Use Labor Day Activities To Ease Students Back Into School
Depending on your school or district's schedule, Labor Day is either the first holiday of the school year or the last celebration before students return to class. Either way, you can use this holiday as a hook to kick off your beginning-of-the-year lessons and ease students back into their school routines.
Today, we’re sharing four primary-source Labor Day activities that can help your students understand the holiday's importance and get back into the swing of schoolwork.
4 historical Labor Day activities to teach your students about the holiday
Do your students understand the significance of Labor Day in the United States? Unlike religious holidays or those based on a specific historical event, it can be tricky for students to understand what we celebrate on this day or why they should care.
We’ve collected four primary sources you can use to teach about Labor Day in your classroom. Each has an interactive activity from the shared Formative Library to engage students and make your lesson planning easier.
You can customize the activity templates by adjusting settings like randomizing the question and answer order, awarding partial credit for certain questions, or tagging questions to additional standards. You can edit the existing questions or add content for a more comprehensive assessment.
Plus, a Newsela Social Studies license makes sharing primary source texts and interactive activities easier than ever. Explore interviews and documents that will help your students better understand the events that led up to creating the Labor Day holiday—and the changes that came after:
1. Interview: Former child laborer during the Industrial Revolution (1832)
Before the Industrial Revolution, labor laws were much different than they are today. In the early 19th century, English lawmaker and social reformer Michael Sadler proposed a new law to limit child labor for those under age 18 to 10 hours per day.
In 1832, Sadler interviewed a former child laborer named Michael Crabtree, who spent most of his childhood working in factories, to learn about his experiences. Students can read Sadler’s interview with Crabtree to learn more about what life was like for child laborers before labor laws existed. Then, as a class, you can discuss how their working conditions differ from the jobs teenagers may have today.
Finally, assign the interactive Formative activity to check students' understanding of the source and topic with questions and prompts like:
What makes this primary source useful to historians?
What are some limitations of this primary source?
Sort the physical and emotional hardships child laborers faced in the 19th century.
2. Two views: Lowell Mill Girls and the factory system (1840)
Lowell, Massachusetts was home to some of the first large-scale textile mills in the United States and one of the first sites of the Industrial Revolution in America. The Lowell mills employed about 8,000 textile workers, and the women were known as mill or factory girls.
The Lowell mills became controversial at the time, exposing different sides of business and employment. For many women workers, it brought them a sense of freedom to earn their own money and expand their education. Others criticized the factories, comparing the wage-labor system to a form of slavery.
Have students read articles that have two opposing viewpoints on the Lowell mills. Orestes Brownson’s “The Laboring Classes” attacks the wage system and discusses how working in factories is not a place for women.
Then, have them read an anonymous response to Brownson’s article “A Factory Girl,” which defended the mill girls and their choice to work. Afterward, assign the interactive Formative activity to assess students' knowledge of the topic with questions like:
What does this source reveal about mill girls and the factory system in 1840?
What additional sources could help confirm the working conditions in the factories?
Identify which quotes support and oppose the factory system.
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3. Time machine: Children working in the Pennsylvania coal mines (1902)
In the 20th century, coal was one of Pennsylvania’s main industries. From the mines to the mills, many people were involved in collecting and transforming this natural resource to meet society’s needs. Unfortunately, with a product in such high demand, many coal mines had poor working conditions, especially for child laborers.
Have students read the article “Children of the Coal Shadow,” published in McClure’s Magazine in 1902. The article shows how children worked to separate impurities from coal by hand in processing plants. After reading, have students compare and contrast a coal worker’s experience with that of the Lowell mill girls and British factory workers.
To check students’ understanding, assign the interactive Formative activity and have them answer questions and prompts like:
Choose the statement that best describes the purpose of the source.
What can you conclude about the United States coal industry in the early 20th century?
Sort the valuable information and limitations of the source.
4. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in response to the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. It sets standards and enacts protections to make sure people are treating their fellow humans with dignity and respect. This document has influenced other legislation since its passing, including some of the labor rights legislation we have today.
Have students read the full text of the Declaration, including its preamble and all 30 Articles. Then, have students use the document to decide which, if any, of these rights employers violated for workers in the coal mines, mills, and factories of the 19th and 20th centuries.
End your lesson with the interactive Formative activity paired with this source and ask them to answer questions and prompts like:
What’s the purpose of this document?
Which Articles serve to limit the power of the government?
Sort Articles that describe legal and financial rights.
Create engaging Labor Day activities with Formative
The Formative Library has a variety of free, pre-made activities developed by our curriculum experts and educators like you. You can use these templates as-is or customize them to fit your instructional needs. Use the library’s sort filters to browse content by subject, grade level, and even language to find what you want.
If you don’t see a template that matches your instructional needs, create your own! Log into your Formative account and choose how to customize your lesson or assessment. You can create new slides with various multimedia, import content from Google, or enhance a PDF or existing doc.
Don’t have a Formative account yet? Sign up for Formative Bronze for free today to start creating activities for Labor Day and beyond!