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MARCH 2023
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FIRST WORD
Learning through Art and Reading
A Lindsay VanAsdalan
Editor LVanAsdalan@
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Let us know what’s on your mind.

info@thefamilymagazine.com s spring arrives this month, there’s much for
families to celebrate and remember in March,
from women’s history to brain injury and
developmental disabilities awareness—and to bring
all these topics together and encourage curiosity and
learning—reading! This March, encourage your child to learn through
National Reading Month.

Our Book Marked selections from Montgomery
County Public Libraries offer a closer look at related
experiences that illuminate Developmental Disabilities
Awareness Month.

Contributing writer Sandi Schwartz, in turn, pro-
vides ways kids can think about these narratives in
a deeper way through critical thinking. At the same
time, she explores the impact of technology on critical
thinking techniques. (pg. 12).

This month, we also celebrate the learning process
itself with stories about education.

Consider how outdoor education programs benefit
children (pg. 14) as the weather gets warmer and there
are more opportunities to connect with their environ-
ment in a feature from staff writer Heather M. Ross.

Art can educate, too, but it also reveals the unsung
heroes behind our children’s education by connecting
us with their stories (pg. 21). To cultivate in our kids
the ability to create their own art, check out 13 DIY
crafts (pg. 11) for your kids this month (that also aren’t
a pain to clean up!)
Learn more about spring sport safety and risks
for head injuries in this month’s Healthy Family
(pg. 28), and educate your child on rare diseases with
personal stories from local families in our Inclusive
Family (pg. 26).

Finally, don’t forget to teach your kids about Irish-
American Heritage Month with these six ways to
celebrate St. Patrick’s Day together (pg. 10)!
Happy spring,
A WORLD PREMIERE KENNEDY CENTER COMMISSION
The Mortification of
Fovea Munson
Abra cadaver! Laugh out loud on an adventure
like no body has seen before.

Illustration by James Ransome.

Artwork by Julia Kerschbaumer.

Madison Palomo in Cenici
nicienta enta. . Photo
Phot o by Chris
C hris Owen.

O wen
PERFORMANN C E S F O R Y O U N G A UDIENCES
K E N N E DY C E N T E R P R E M I E R E
KENNEDY CENTER AND NSO WORLD PREMIERE COMMISSION
N AT I O N A L S Y M P H O N Y O R C H E ST R A FA M I LY CO N C E RT
Cenicienta: A Bilingual
This Is the Rope: A Story
Cinderella Story
from the Great Migration
by Glass Half Full Theatre
Revisit a classic fairy tale in a playful new way.

Follow a rope through generations of memories.

Mary Winn Heider brings her uproarious book to
musical life in this world premiere Kennedy Center
commission. Fovea Munson is stuck working at
her parents’ cadaver lab, but she is by no means Dr.

Frankenstein’s snuffling assistant, Igor! That is, until
three disembodied heads start talking. To her. Out
loud. And they need a favor.

Ten-year-old Belinda loves to tell stories, but when
she’s in the basement preparing for a party upstairs,
she’ll have to get creative. Using everyday objects like
a teapot and doily, Belinda recreates the classic tale
of Cinderella. Glass Half Full Theatre from Austin,
Texas, presents its award-winning “story within a story”
using puppetry, Spanish, and English.

This world premiere NSO Family Concert features
Education Artist-in-Residence Jacqueline Woodson
reading This Is the Rope onstage, a new score by Quinn
Mason played by the National Symphony Orchestra
and conducted by Kyle Dickson, and projected
illustrations by Coretta Scott King Award-winner
James Ransome.

Mar. 4–19
Family Theater
Apr. 1 & 2
Family Theater
Apr. 2 at 2 & 4 p.m.

Concert Hall
Kennedy-Center.org (202) 467-4600
AGES 10+
AGES 5+
AGES 7+
Groups call (202) 416-8400
For all other ticket-related customer
service inquiries, call the Advance
Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540
Kennedy-Center.org/COVIDsafety WashingtonFAMILY.com
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