This literacy activity promotes letter-sound recognition in kindergarten students. Cut out pictures of different types of bugs -- butterflies, ladybugs, ants, bees and grasshoppers, for example -- then glue them onto index cards and set them in a pile. On another set of index cards, write the letters that each of the bugs begin with and lay these on a flat surface. Students must sort through the pictures of the bugs and match them to the letters that they begin with.
There are countless numbers of bug-themed children's books that you can use for literacy instruction during a bug unit. Fill your library with an array of bug-related titles. "Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!" by Bob Barner, "The Best Bug Parade" by Stuart J. Murphy and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle are just a sample of titles that you can include. Invite your students to look through the books during the literacy block of your day, center time or free time. Read the books aloud and ask children pre-, during and post-reading questions to heighten their comprehension of the books. Use graphic organizers, such as KWL charts and Venn diagrams, to record and compare information from the books.
Have your students create bug word books to develop recognition of different bug names. Use a word processing program to create simple sentences on individual pages that relate to different types of bugs. For example, you could write, "Ladybugs are black and red" or "Bees buzz on flowers," but omit the names of the bugs in the sentences. Incorporate pictures of the bugs on each page and distribute the pages in class. To fill in the bug names, encourage children to look at the pictures of the bugs then refer to a bug word wall or bug word chart and have them use the words as a guide. After they've filled in the bug names, assemble the pages into books and read the books as a class, in small groups or individually.
After reading the bug-themed books with your students, have them sequence the events that happened in the stories to increase their reading comprehension. Photocopy pictures from the beginning, middle and end of selected books and place them in a jumbled order. Instruct children to look at the pictures and arrange them in the order that they happened in the stories. After arranging the pictures, ask children to retell the events that the pictures illustrate.