Practice the alphabet while your kindergartners learn some of the many different types of insects. Print or create one page for each letter of the alphabet with a picture of a corresponding insect or insect-related vocabulary word (A and Ant, B and Bee). Let students color each page and practice writing the main letter or the entire word according to their ability level. Bind the pages together into a book with yarn threaded through punched holes, with staplers or in a small binder with other insect unit activities.
Choose a classic bug book to read to your class during your insect unit. Eric Carle's "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is a classic story teaching the life cycle of the caterpillar into a butterfly. Make use of your felt or flannel board to involve children in this retelling as you count and hang the food shapes together or use pieces with holes punched in the middle to thread onto a green ribbon "caterpillar" while you read. Write out one of the repeating lines of the story on the board for children to read along with you at your signal to further develop their literacy skills.
Write a poem or rhyme about insects, such as "Little Miss Muffet" or "Here is the Beehive" line by line onto a bulletin board during your insect unit. Read the poem daily to your kindergartners, pointing to the line as you read it, and asking them to repeat the lines after you. As students memorize the words, they begin to see the connections between the words they are repeating and the words on the board. Practicing poetry line by line also helps kindergartners practice inflection.
Create a chart with sentences and pictures to help kindergartners learn the names of various insects while practicing reading and matching skills. Glue a picture of an insect onto a large piece of paper or bulletin board. Write in large letters a sentence describing the picture, such as "A bee is an insect." Repeat for all of the pictures or add a new sentence and picture each day according to your lesson plans. Read the sentence, pointing to the picture and ask students to repeat the sentence as you point to the words. Kindergartners who are already writing should copy these sentences into their science journals or insect unit notebooks.