To Infinity!

Each day I have been focusing on a specific word, looking for examples of it in my experiences, considering how I use it, and seeking to define it/explain it for myself. For someone who long ago was given the Outstanding English Student Award at my high school, the process has been more difficult than I anticipated.

A question for you, dear reader:
How would you define and explain infinity?

Author Kate Hosford asked many students that question - and continues to do so - in connection with her latest picture book Infinity and Me. The main character, Uma, thinks about infinity as she sits under the many stars in the sky..."A million? A billion? Maybe the number was as big as infinity." Her classmates consider it, too, as things like the biggest number, as an ongoing racetrack, as one's family tree. Uma wonders what she would like to do forever and what it would be like to remain a certain age forever. All this time, no one noticed her new red shoes. Just when the girl's head hurts too much to think about it anymore, Uma discovers one thing that helps her define infinity.

Infinity might be one of my future daily words. Until then, I have been thinking of things that might illustrate it...

the number line, stretching in both positive and negative directions, those arrow heads at each end

the tunnels of ants I know are underneath our grass and pavement

the number of ideas for inventions and ways to make things work

Visit the author's website for teaching ideas and more information: http://khosford.com/.