7 Ways to celebrate Endangered Species Day in the classroom

Every year, the third Friday in May marks Endangered Species Day, a national day of awareness spearheaded by the National Wildlife Federation. It’s a chance for classrooms across the country to explore why certain species are at risk and what we all stand to lose if they disappear.

For teachers, this day is more than a calendar event. It’s a launchpad for meaningful science lessons, cross-curricular projects, and student-led conversations about the world they’re inheriting. Whether you teach 2nd graders just learning about animal habitats or high schoolers ready to debate the ethics of de-extinction, Endangered Species Day offers something worth exploring.

The activities below are designed with elementary and middle school classrooms in mind, though you’ll find suggestions for high school teachers, too. Each one pairs with ClickView video resources to help bring the topic to life. Ready to get started?

What is Endangered Species Day and why does it matter?

Endangered Species Day is held on the third Friday in May each year. Established by the National Wildlife Federation, it was created to raise awareness of the fragility of our planet and to encourage people to learn about the living things that share it.

There are currently more than 44,000 species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, and that number continues to grow (IUCN, 2024). For students, understanding why species become endangered, and what humans have to do with it, builds the kind of scientific literacy and environmental awareness that extends well beyond a single lesson.

If you’re looking for a way to introduce the topic, Endangered Animals from the SciShow Kids series is a short, accessible starting point for younger students. For a broader look at why protecting living things matters, Why Do We Need to Protect Living Things? helps frame the conversation in terms that students relate to.

7 classroom activities for Endangered Species Day

1) Create an endangered species fact file

This activity taps into students’ natural curiosity about animals and gives them a chance to practice research and informational writing skills at the same time.

Start by asking your students a simple question: what’s your favorite endangered animal? Give them a few minutes to discuss with a partner, then show the class Endangered Animals to spark their thinking.

Once students have chosen their animal, their task is to create a fact file. You might prepare some resources in advance, or let students use books and approved websites for their research.

To help structure their work, give them these guiding questions:

• What does your animal look like?
• What does it eat?
• What kind of habitat does it live in, and where is it found in the wild?
• What are the past, current, and future threats to this animal?
• What action plans are already in place to help save this animal and its habitat?
• What else could humans do to help this species thrive?

When the fact files are finished, bind them together to create a class endangered species book. It’s a tangible reminder of why Endangered Species Day matters, and students love seeing their work compiled into something they helped build.

Grade level tip: For younger elementary students, simplify the research questions and provide pre-selected sources. Middle school students could present their fact files to the class as short oral reports.

2) Investigate the vanishing honeybees

Bees are one of the most critical species facing population decline, and this activity helps students understand why that matters for all of us. It’s a great way to connect endangered species to everyday life, because the food on our plates depends on pollinators.

Begin by showing The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees, which explores the alarming decline of the US honeybee population and its causes. After watching, guide a class discussion around these prompts:

• Why are bees so important to the food chain?
• What is colony collapse disorder?
• What would happen to the foods we eat if bees disappeared?

Then have students work in small groups to research one factor contributing to the decline of honeybees (pesticides, habitat loss, disease, or climate change). Each group presents their findings and proposes one realistic action your school community could take.

For an extension activity, explore the broader Bees topic on ClickView for more video resources that support this investigation.

3) Explore biodiversity in your local environment

How well do your students know the living things right outside their classroom door? This activity gets students outdoors (or at least looking closely at their surroundings) while building their understanding of biodiversity and why it matters.

Start with Why Is Biodiversity Important? to introduce the concept. For a deeper dive, the Biodiversity video from the Science Kids series covers the topic in more detail.

Then take students outside for a biodiversity survey of your school grounds. Ask them to observe and record:

• What plants, insects, birds, and other animals they spot
• What types of habitats exist on or near the school grounds (gardens, ponds, grassy areas, trees)
• Whether there are any signs of human impact on those habitats

Back in the classroom, students create a mind map showing the living things they found and how they’re connected. Challenge them to brainstorm ideas for how the school community could better protect local wildlife habitats. Could you plant a pollinator garden? Add bird feeders? Reduce pesticide use on school grounds?

This activity also pairs well with Protecting Habitats and Water and Biodiversity, which explore the link between water availability and the diversity of life.

4) Watch and discuss: why do species become endangered?

Understanding the causes behind species decline is essential if students are going to think critically about solutions. This activity uses short video clips to introduce the key drivers of extinction and then opens the floor for discussion.

Show Humans Caused Extinction to set the stage, followed by Species Go Extinct for a closer look at how extinction happens. For a powerful real-world example, Rapid Species Extinction from David Attenborough brings the issue into sharp focus.

After watching, use these discussion prompts with your class:

• What human activities contribute most to species becoming endangered?
• Are there any causes of extinction that are not related to humans?
• What surprised you most about what you watched?
• Is extinction always permanent? (This is a great lead-in to the de-extinction debate for older students.)

Have students sort the causes of endangerment into categories: habitat loss, overexploitation, pollution and climate change, invasive species, and disease. They could create a visual chart or poster showing how each category connects to real animal species.

Grade level tip: For 1st and 2nd graders, focus on Endangered Animals and keep the discussion simple. For 4th and 5th graders, the Attenborough clip adds depth and emotional weight.

5) Map the effects of climate change on wildlife

Climate change is one of the biggest threats to species worldwide, and this activity helps students connect those two ideas in a concrete, visual way.

Begin with Climate Change and Its Effects on Species to introduce how rising temperatures, shifting weather patterns, and habitat loss affect animals around the globe. For a focused case study, Antarctica and the Melting Ice Shelf: How Can We Save the Planet? looks at the impact on polar ecosystems, while Blue Whale Extinction brings the story of an iconic species into the conversation.

After watching, have students work in pairs or small groups to:

• Choose one region of the world (polar, tropical, ocean, desert, or forest)
• Research one endangered species from that region
• Identify how climate change is affecting that species and its habitat
• Plot their findings on a shared classroom world map

By the end of the activity, your classroom map becomes a visual representation of the global scale of the problem, and a conversation starter about what communities around the world are doing to respond.

For a broader context, Anthropocene: The Age of Humans and Impacting the Earth is an excellent companion resource, especially for upper elementary and middle school students.

6) Hold a “protect our planet” school campaign

What happens when students feel strongly about an issue? Give them the tools to do something about it. This activity channels that energy into a student-led awareness campaign within your school.

Start by showing How to Take Care of the Environment and Minding Our Planet to help students identify specific actions people can take. For younger students, Learn about Helping our Planet with Peter Planet is an engaging and accessible option.

Then challenge your class to plan a school-wide campaign. Here’s a checklist to guide their preparations:

• Choose a focus issue (habitat protection, pollution, saving a specific species)
• Research the issue and gather key facts
• Create posters, flyers, or digital content to share with the school
• Write morning announcements or lunchtime presentations
• Set a date to launch the campaign and decide how to measure its impact

This is a fantastic cross-curricular activity. Students practice persuasive writing, design skills, public speaking, and teamwork, all while engaging with real environmental issues. You’ll find that students remember projects where they felt their voice mattered.

7) Write a persuasive letter to a lawmaker

Few activities feel as meaningful to students as writing to someone who has the power to make change happen. This activity builds persuasive writing skills while connecting students to the real-world impact of civic participation.

To begin, discuss with your class the issues that endangered species face because of human activity. You might revisit some of the videos from earlier activities or focus on an issue relevant to your local area, such as pollution, deforestation, or loss of green space.

Have students discuss in small groups:

• What are their concerns for a specific endangered species?
• What needs to change to help these species thrive?
• How could those changes happen?
• What could their local senator, congressperson, or city council member do to support those changes?

Once students have their ideas, remind them how to write persuasively. The Persuasive Writing series from ClickView covers the key features of effective persuasive texts.

If time allows, have students read their letters aloud to the class for peer feedback. And do try to actually send the letters or emails. You might be surprised how responsive some local officials are, especially around an awareness day like this one.

Grade level tip: Elementary students could write as a class, composing one letter together. Middle school students are ready to write individually and target specific representatives.

A note for high school teachers: the de-extinction debate

While the activities above focus mainly on elementary and middle school classrooms, Endangered Species Day offers rich material for high school discussions, too.

Bringing Back Extinct Animals: Should We Just Because We Can? explores the science behind de-extinction, including gene splicing and CRISPR technology. It raises compelling ethical questions: should scientists bring back the woolly mammoth or the Tasmanian tiger? What are the consequences of intervening in natural processes?

Use this video as the foundation for a structured classroom debate or Socratic seminar. Have students research both sides, prepare arguments, and present their positions. It’s an excellent way to build critical thinking, research, and public speaking skills while tying into the broader themes of Endangered Species Day.

Tips for ongoing integration

Endangered Species Day is a great starting point, but the conversation doesn’t have to end in May. Here are a few ways to keep the momentum going throughout the school year:

• Connect endangered species topics to science units on habitats, ecosystems, food chains, and the water cycle
• Revisit your classroom world map from Activity 5 when studying different regions in geography
• Use current news stories about conservation efforts as discussion starters during morning meetings
• Explore the Let’s Discover: Sustainability and Climate Change series on ClickView for ongoing video resources
• Encourage students to track the progress of a conservation project they care about and report back to the class periodically

By building these themes into your regular teaching, you help students see that protecting endangered species isn’t just a one-day event. It’s an ongoing responsibility that starts with awareness and grows through action.

Sources

1. IUCN (2024). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Available at: https://www.iucnredlist.org/ (Accessed: 22 April 2026).
2. National Wildlife Federation (n.d.). Endangered Species Day. Available at: https://www.endangeredspeciesday.org/ (Accessed: 22 April 2026).