Get your students excited about wildlife with this collection of engaging articles! Covering elephants, polar bears, whales, and even the rarest creatures on Earth, these resources are perfect for sparking curiosity. Each article is available at three reading levels, making it easy for you to share with readers of all abilities in your classroom.
Bring your students on an icy exploration of the polar ecosystem! The Arctic and Antarctica may look frozen and empty at first glance, but they’re full of life perfectly adapted to the cold.
✨ Perfect for grades 3–8, here’s what you need to bring ecosystems to life:
- Iconic BBC Videos: Share the clips on this page to introduce the location, plants, animals, and climate of the polar regions. (Don't miss the narwhals and emperor penguins!) Brought to you by world-class BBC programs like Planet Earth, Frozen Planet, and Seven Worlds, One Planet.
- Free Printable: Use the Polar Brochure Template to help students pull it all together in an ecosystem report with facts they’ve learned (and a little extra research).
It’s everything you need to make ecosystems easy to teach and truly memorable for your students.
In A World of Whale Sound Beneath the Sea, narrator Sir David Attenborough follows scientists as they track whales. This tracking enables the scientists to redirect shipping and reduce collisions. Tracking also allows them to monitor how the whales use sound as a vital means of communication deep beneath the sea. Unfortunately, human activity and noise pollution is masking some of that sound, having an impact on whale behavior in ways that we’re still learning about. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Horizon: The Death of the Oceans, which reveals what scientists are learning about what is happening in the oceans and whether it is too late to save their remarkable diversity.
In Majestic Blue Whales Under Threat, narrator Sir David Attenborough highlights the largest animal to have ever lived—the blue whale. Weighing nearly 200 tons, these gentle giants feed almost exclusively on tiny crustaceans called krill. By taking in massive gulps of water and filtering out krill, a single blue whale can consume up to four million krill per day. However, global environmental changes threaten the fragile ecosystem that supports these magnificent creatures. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Planet Earth, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
In A Humpback Whale Baby Leaves the Nursery, narrator Sir David Attenborough follows a mother and baby humpback whale as they embark on a dangerous journey. The young calf and starving mother leave the safety of the shallow seas in search of deeper water, where the mother can eat. Along the way, they communicate by slapping their tails and fins against the surface of the water. This video is excerpted from BBC's Planet Earth, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
In An Orca Whale Hunt, narrator Sir David Attenborough follows a pair of orca, also known as killer whales, who are working together to attack a sea lion. This video is an excerpt from BBC’s Nature's Great Events, a documentary series that showcases some of the most dramatic wildlife spectacles on Earth, exploring how life adapts to natural events that can transform entire landscapes.
In Identifying Whale Tails, surfer Ted Cheeseman talks about his photo identification service, Happy Whale. Whales' tails show their life story, from bitemarks, barnacles, and scars. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Natural World: Humpback Whales - A Detective Story,, a documentary about our relationship with whales and their future alongside us.
In Why Whale Watching Matters, whale watchers discuss how seeing a whale makes them feel. In the past, whales were hunted for their oil, baleen, flesh, and bones; an estimated 3 million of them were killed. Now that this has stopped, numbers of humpback whales are increasing. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Natural World: Humpback Whales - A Detective Story,, a documentary about our relationship with whales and their future alongside us.
In Whales Caught in a Net, a whale rescue team travels hours to reach a whale that has been tangled in a fishing net. It is a dangerous job, but they manage to free the distressed whale. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Natural World: Humpback Whales - A Detective Story,, a documentary about our relationship with whales and their future alongside us.
In Humpback Whale Anatomy, people discuss their close encounters with whales. Professor Joy Reidenberg discusses what she has learned from dissecting dead whales. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Natural World: Humpback Whales - A Detective Story, a documentary about our relationship with whales and their future alongside us.
In How Humpback Whales Protect Others, marine biologists discuss occasions when they have witnessed humpback whales protecting other species and how their behavior shows empathy and altruism. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Natural World: Humpback Whales - A Detective Story, a documentary about our relationship with whales and their future alongside us.
In A Secluded Beluga Whale Estuary, narrator Sir David Attenborough follows a herd of beluga whales as they swim into a secluded estuary that is only available during summer when the ice has melted. The whales are there to use the shallow water and rocky bottom to clean their skin. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Frozen Planet, a series that shows a fragile world of beauty and hostility, where nature finds a way to survive and thrive in frigid conditions.
Get your students excited about wildlife with this collection of engaging articles! Covering elephants, polar bears, whales, and even the rarest creatures on Earth, these resources are perfect for sparking curiosity. Each article is available at three reading levels, making it easy for you to share with readers of all abilities in your classroom.
Bring your students on an icy exploration of the polar ecosystem! The Arctic and Antarctica may look frozen and empty at first glance, but they’re full of life perfectly adapted to the cold.
✨ Perfect for grades 3–8, here’s what you need to bring ecosystems to life:
- Iconic BBC Videos: Share the clips on this page to introduce the location, plants, animals, and climate of the polar regions. (Don't miss the narwhals and emperor penguins!) Brought to you by world-class BBC programs like Planet Earth, Frozen Planet, and Seven Worlds, One Planet.
- Free Printable: Use the Polar Brochure Template to help students pull it all together in an ecosystem report with facts they’ve learned (and a little extra research).
It’s everything you need to make ecosystems easy to teach and truly memorable for your students.
In A World of Whale Sound Beneath the Sea, narrator Sir David Attenborough follows scientists as they track whales. This tracking enables the scientists to redirect shipping and reduce collisions. Tracking also allows them to monitor how the whales use sound as a vital means of communication deep beneath the sea. Unfortunately, human activity and noise pollution is masking some of that sound, having an impact on whale behavior in ways that we’re still learning about. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Horizon: The Death of the Oceans, which reveals what scientists are learning about what is happening in the oceans and whether it is too late to save their remarkable diversity.
In Majestic Blue Whales Under Threat, narrator Sir David Attenborough highlights the largest animal to have ever lived—the blue whale. Weighing nearly 200 tons, these gentle giants feed almost exclusively on tiny crustaceans called krill. By taking in massive gulps of water and filtering out krill, a single blue whale can consume up to four million krill per day. However, global environmental changes threaten the fragile ecosystem that supports these magnificent creatures. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Planet Earth, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
In A Humpback Whale Baby Leaves the Nursery, narrator Sir David Attenborough follows a mother and baby humpback whale as they embark on a dangerous journey. The young calf and starving mother leave the safety of the shallow seas in search of deeper water, where the mother can eat. Along the way, they communicate by slapping their tails and fins against the surface of the water. This video is excerpted from BBC's Planet Earth, a breathtaking documentary series that highlights the natural wonders of our planet.
In An Orca Whale Hunt, narrator Sir David Attenborough follows a pair of orca, also known as killer whales, who are working together to attack a sea lion. This video is an excerpt from BBC’s Nature's Great Events, a documentary series that showcases some of the most dramatic wildlife spectacles on Earth, exploring how life adapts to natural events that can transform entire landscapes.
In Identifying Whale Tails, surfer Ted Cheeseman talks about his photo identification service, Happy Whale. Whales' tails show their life story, from bitemarks, barnacles, and scars. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Natural World: Humpback Whales - A Detective Story,, a documentary about our relationship with whales and their future alongside us.
In Why Whale Watching Matters, whale watchers discuss how seeing a whale makes them feel. In the past, whales were hunted for their oil, baleen, flesh, and bones; an estimated 3 million of them were killed. Now that this has stopped, numbers of humpback whales are increasing. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Natural World: Humpback Whales - A Detective Story,, a documentary about our relationship with whales and their future alongside us.
In Whales Caught in a Net, a whale rescue team travels hours to reach a whale that has been tangled in a fishing net. It is a dangerous job, but they manage to free the distressed whale. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Natural World: Humpback Whales - A Detective Story,, a documentary about our relationship with whales and their future alongside us.
In Humpback Whale Anatomy, people discuss their close encounters with whales. Professor Joy Reidenberg discusses what she has learned from dissecting dead whales. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Natural World: Humpback Whales - A Detective Story, a documentary about our relationship with whales and their future alongside us.
In How Humpback Whales Protect Others, marine biologists discuss occasions when they have witnessed humpback whales protecting other species and how their behavior shows empathy and altruism. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Natural World: Humpback Whales - A Detective Story, a documentary about our relationship with whales and their future alongside us.
In A Secluded Beluga Whale Estuary, narrator Sir David Attenborough follows a herd of beluga whales as they swim into a secluded estuary that is only available during summer when the ice has melted. The whales are there to use the shallow water and rocky bottom to clean their skin. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Frozen Planet, a series that shows a fragile world of beauty and hostility, where nature finds a way to survive and thrive in frigid conditions.