Page 12 Excellence In Education Lincoln Daily News January 2024 The goal of literacy education is not only to raise students who CAN read, but who WANT to read. Mrs. Folkman takes this job seriously for all students from early childhood education to graduating seniors. Over the past 18 years in education, 6 of those in the library, she has worked to build a community of readers, not just in the school and classroom, but in the community at large, as well. Literacy is the Hartem Heart of Getting people to want to read starts with choice. People of all ages are more likely to read if they are given a choice in WHAT they read. In 2017, Mrs. Folkman was awarded the prestigious Book Love Grant from the Penny Kittle Foundation to help support reading choice in her classroom. From there, her desire to share book love and choice reading only grew. She decided to become a school librarian and promote books for all ages. Volunteers made and purchased little free libraries that Mrs. Folkman stocks with books for all ages in Hartsburg and Emden to make sure that the whole community has access to books at all times. She also visits little free libraries throughout Logan County and central IL to donate books. Some major projects Mrs. Folkman has undertaken in the school library include genrefying the fiction section at the junior high/high school to make the books more browsable, like you might see in a bookstore. Students are enjoying it and circulation has increased since this change. She has also added manga and comics sections to the junior high/high school library. Last year she won a grant to refresh the science section of the junior high/high school library to update the very old volumes the school had before. At the elementary school, Mrs. Folkman worked to weed and refresh the nonfiction section of the library. She has also been weeding the picture books while reading each of them. (She just finished the letter W and should finish all the picture books by the end of January!) The chapter book section is also getting a refresh with genre stickers on the spines to help students find their favorites. Mrs. Folkman is recently the recipient of the First Page Award from AISLE (Association of Illinois School Library Educators) for Continued --
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