The sound of her tiny footsteps echoed in a hallway that seemed to go on for miles. With every inch closer she crept, the unknown made her grow uneasy.

Anne Marie Keskonis, now principal of Harmony Elementary School in Buford, wore her hair in a ponytail, shiny black patent leather shoes, a freshly pressed dress and a nervous smile on her first day of kindergarten.

Vino Wong/vwong@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Shelia Batchelor, a kindergarten teacher at Buford's Harmony Elementary School, leads pre-schoolers in an exercise about coloring animal tracks. The children are attending kindergarten camp, designed to ease the transition for children into a structured school environment.

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"The kindergarten classroom was huge," Keskonis recalled. Her teacher was waiting inside to calm her first-day jitters. But had Keskonis been to a program like the kindergarten camp offered recently at Harmony Elementary, her suburban Detroit school would not have seemed so strange.

"I think I would have been a little bit more confident," Keskonis said. "That's our goal."

Harmony and other public elementary schools across Gwinnett are opening early to kindergartners this month to introduce them to the routine of being a student — from sitting in work stations to playing with new kids at recess.

Several elementary schools are hosting kindergarten camp sessions during an abbreviated school day with crafts and fun learning activities. Administrators and teachers say the experience helps to reduce the separation anxiety of parents and kids on the first day of school.

"Kindergarten is a big, scary world for parents," said Shelia Batchelor, a longtime kindergarten teacher at Harmony. "When their kids walk in the big doors and they walk back out at lunch safely, [parents] see that we are going to love their kids and take care of their kids just like they were at home.''

Kindergarten camps at Mulberry Elementary in Auburn and Level Creek Elementary in Suwanee start today. Several other schools, such as Benefield Elementary and Suwanee Elementary, will offer camp later this month. Some schools have already hosted camp.

Students who attend kindergarten camp tend to become class leaders during the first weeks of school because they are used to their surroundings.

"We do a tour of the school so they know where everything is," Batchelor said. "They get a head start on following school rules, and they also get to meet some friends."

On a recent day during Wildcat Week (Harmony Elementary's kindergarten camp), 20 kindergartners got an introduction to scientific research methods. The students gathered for a story about animal tracks and then scattered some flour on grass near the playground to see if they could attract animals visiting the campus overnight. The students threw fruit slices and bird seed on top of the flour to lure the animals to the site.

A day later, the kids returned to observe the tracks and draw pictures of them in their journals.

"Could a deer have come out last night?" kindergarten teacher Donna Childers asked students, engaging them in conversation. I believe so. I have seen some of them near my house. What about a dog? Could a dog have come out last night?"

Five-year-old Hunter Rewis pointed to a long narrow path in the flour. "I believe it was a snake," he said of the track.

"Very good, Hunter," Childers responded.

Students aren't the only ones who learn during kindergarten camp. Some schools offer parents instruction, too.

On July 22 , Susan Stripling Elementary School moms, dads and guardians can attend parenting classes while their kids are at kindergarten camp. The classes will help them prepare their kindergartners to excel at the Norcross school.

"We are trying to really improve parental instruction in reading," principal Clay Hunter said. "Techniques the teachers are using in school we will be teaching the parents so they can use them at home. It's the same thing with math instruction."

About 75 students are expected to attend kindergarten camp at Stripling. The principal said he recommends the program for all kindergartners because it gets them used to following directions and solving problems on their own. "The quicker we can get them independent, the sooner we can start focusing in on instruction," he said.

Going to kindergarten camp has already helped Hunter Rewis feel more relaxed about his new school, said Harmony parent Paula Rewis. "When he goes on the first day and the school is packed, it will be less intimidating for him."