Lucky
SEVEN HAS THE MOST WAYS
Loading audio…
Press play to listen along. The line being read lights up as you go.
Show full transcript
Loading transcript…
Lucky is a bright ladybird with seven spots on her back, and in the whole of Lucky's Meadow there is one thing she knows better than anyone: where to plant. Every day, when the two dice are about to roll, Lucky trundles over and plants herself right by the patch marked 7. Always seven. And she almost always ends up with the most flowers.
"Why seven?" asked her little friend Dot one morning. "Why not two, or twelve?"
Lucky twinkled her spots. "Because seven can be made the most ways! Watch." She lined up the two dice. "To make seven, one die can be 1 and the other 6. Or 2 and 5. Or 3 and 4. Or 4 and 3. Or 5 and 2. Or 6 and 1! So many ways! And every one of those rolls lands a flower on the seven patch."
Dot counted on her little legs. "That's... lots of ways!"
"Lots and lots," said Lucky happily. "Now — how many ways can you make two? Only one: 1 and 1. That's it. So the two patch hardly ever gets a flower. And twelve? Only 6 and 6. One way too. Those patches stay small." She patted the tall seven-patch beside her. "But seven has more ways than any of them, so the dice land here again and again. That's why my patch grows tallest."
Dot looked at the meadow with new eyes. The seven patch was a great big blooming hill. The two patch and the twelve patch were tiny little sprouts.
"So you're not really lucky at all," Dot realized. "You're clever. You planted where the most ways are!"
Lucky laughed, delighted to be found out. "A little bit of both, maybe. But mostly — I plant near seven because seven has the most ways to come up. More ways means more rolls. More rolls means more flowers. Simple as that!"
And sure enough, when the two dice rolled that day, they landed on seven, and then on seven again, and Lucky's patch bloomed taller than ever — while the far-out patches waited and waited for their rare, once-in-a-while roll.
Plant near seven, because seven has the MOST ways to come up on two dice — so its meadow patch grows tallest of all. That's Lucky.
Reading together with a grown-up? A card for the grown-up
For the grown-up: ask one question, then wait. When they answer, add one word to what they said. Tap the button when they have said something — that is one turn each, a circle. Nothing is recorded or kept.
Let them finish it
Say “Lucky says: plant near seven, because seven has the MOST ways to come up on two …” and stop. Let them finish it.
Now wait. Count slowly to five in your head. Their answer is worth the quiet.
Circles together: 0
The SevenPals ensemble
Lucky is one of the friends in SevenPals. Each friend shows you one idea by how they act; meet them all and you have the whole subject.
-
Dot
The counting beetle — counts the dots on the two dice and adds them, one careful step at a time (number sense)
-
Twobble
The snail who loves patch 2 — proud but patient, because 2 has only one way (1+1), so it rarely blooms
-
Petal
The flower-keeper — the more ways a number has, the taller she grows its pile (embodies the hill-shaped distribution)
