The swimsuits and beach towels are in store display aisles next to notebooks and book bags — telling signs that as the dog days of summer wind down, the first day of school is just around the corner.

And since 5-year-old Karley Jo Jackson has already been to the beach this summer, she's ready to move on to backpack shopping for her first day of kindergarten at Twin Echo Elementary School.

Karley Jo and the rest of the more than 6,500 Collinsville School District students will begin school just two weeks away, on Aug. 15.

"You keep telling me, 'When are we going to shopping for school supplies?'" Kim Jackson playfully teased her daughter as they went through her new school outfits.

"No, I don't," Karley Jo protested.

"Well what have you been bugging me about?"

"Going shopping for backpacks," Karley Jo admitted, adding that she wants a messenger-style bag.

The stylish girl who loves pink and purple already has her Kahoks-inspired purple outfit picked out for the first day of class. But more importantly for mom, she's mentally prepared as well. Karley Jo knows how to spell her name, identify letters and colors, count up to 60 and do basic addition.

"They say if anyone is ready for kindergarten, it's Karley Jo because she's been down there her whole life," said Jackson, a past president of the Twin Echo PTA. "She's familiar with the school and she knows the teachers. So I don't think she'll have any anxiety."

Jackson said the school's upcoming open house will also help. The week before school starts, Twin Echo invites the students and parents to meet teachers and see what classrooms look like.

Last week, Jackson, Karley Jo and brother Logan, 9, a Twin Echo fourth-grader, completed the district-wide registration process at the high school. Jackson had to provide a birth certificate and proof of a medical exam, dental exam, eye exam, immunizations and residency. She also had to pay a $60 registration fee and $65 instructional material fee.

"You pay the doctor's co-payment, kindergartners are required to get an eye exam, they have to have a dental exam," Jackson said. "By the time you get clothes and school supplies, you're probably talking about spending at least $500."

Although Karley Jo says she "excited to do the computers" and her favorite subject is math, she is a little hesitant about going to full-time kindergarten. She has been in a three-times-a-week preschool program since she was 3, but she said kindergarten is definitely gong to be different from preschool.

"Because you have to do homework and stuff."

Contact reporter Ramona C. Sanders at 618-344-0264, ext. 136