ABSTRACT
During the time we worked with her, Latisha, the author of “What the moon tells us about science,” was a fourth grader who lived with her mother, sister, and brother at a family homeless shelter in New York City. She is a year older than her school peers because she was held back in the first grade in an effort to promote her literacy levels. Three years later, Latisha is still angry about being held back, as she says it is “embarrassing” to be older and taller than her classmates. Latisha presents us with a dilemma. She is able to articulate her thoughts about the moon and about science in her poem; yet she is still not doing well in school. Her report shows a line of U’s-unsatisfactories in all subject areas.
