Labor Day: Celebrating Workers and the Work That Builds Our Communities

Introduction

Labor Day is more than the unofficial end of summer. Observed on the first Monday in September, it is a day to recognize the social and economic contributions of American workers. The first Labor Day celebration took place in New York City on September 5, 1882, and included a workers’ parade. In 1894, Congress made the first Monday in September a legal holiday.

Today’s lesson gives children a chance to explore what work means, discover how different jobs help communities function, and learn why workers organized to improve working conditions.

Learning Goals

By the end of the lesson, children can:

• Explain the basic purpose of Labor Day.

• Identify ways different workers contribute to a community.

• Explore how working conditions have changed over time.

• Recognize that many different kinds of work require valuable skills.

K–2

Focus on the big idea: People do many kinds of work, and their work helps other people.

Ask: What jobs do you see people doing in your community? How does their work help us?

3rd–5th Grade

Introduce the history of Labor Day and discuss why Americans decided that workers deserved a day of recognition.

Ask: What would happen if everyone in your community stopped working for a week?

6th–8th Grade

Dig deeper into labor history. Discuss working hours, wages, workplace safety, child labor, unions, and the ways workers organized to seek changes.

Ask: What responsibilities should employers have toward workers? What protections do you think every worker should have?

Educational Videos

PBS KIDS: Labor Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY_L8--kNB0

This short PBS KIDS video introduces Labor Day as a celebration of American workers and connects work with the importance of balancing work, rest, and play.

K–2

Watch the video together. Afterwards, have your child name three people whose jobs help your family or community.

3rd–5th Grade

Before watching, ask your child to predict why a country might create a holiday about workers. Compare the prediction with what they learn.

6th–8th Grade

Use the video as a quick introduction rather than the main source. Afterwards, investigate the Department of Labor history below and identify at least three details the short video leaves unexplored.

Interactive Resources

U.S. Department of Labor: History of Labor Day

https://www.dol.gov/general/laborday/history

This official history explains the origins of the holiday, the first Labor Day parade, the movement to establish the holiday, and the historical debate over who first proposed it. The Department of Labor notes that both Peter J. McGuire and Matthew Maguire have claims connected to its creation.

K–2

Look at the historical pictures together rather than reading the entire page. Talk about what children notice about clothing, transportation, crowds, and workers.

3rd–5th Grade

Read selected sections together, especially “The First Labor Day.” Create a simple timeline:

1882 — First Labor Day celebration1887 — Oregon becomes the first state to pass a Labor Day law1894 — Labor Day becomes a national legal holiday

6th–8th Grade

Read the sections about Peter McGuire and Matthew Maguire. Discuss an important historical-thinking question:

What should historians do when sources disagree about who deserves credit for an event?

Explore Careers with the Bureau of Labor Statistics

https://www.bls.gov/k12/students/careers/career-exploration.htm

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics offers a free career-exploration site where children can investigate occupations according to interests such as building, computers, food, healthcare, science, teaching, transportation, art, and math. Career pages introduce education, skills, working environments, pay, and employment information.

K–2

Pick three interesting occupations. For each one, ask:

What does this worker do?What tools might they use?Who does their work help?

3rd–5th Grade

Choose three careers from different categories. Make a comparison chart showing:

• Main responsibilities

• Skills needed

• Education or training

• Work environment

6th–8th Grade

Choose one occupation to investigate closely. Look beyond salary and consider education, skills, working conditions, responsibilities, and employment outlook.

Then answer: What makes a job valuable? Is salary the only way to measure its value?

Crafts and Projects

Community Workers Mural

K–2

Grab a large piece of paper and draw a neighborhood. Add people doing jobs that keep the community running: construction workers, sanitation workers, nurses, farmers, librarians, electricians, mechanics, delivery drivers, firefighters, cooks, teachers, engineers, and more.

Next to each worker, finish the sentence:

“This worker helps our community by _____.”

If children need help writing, let them dictate their answers.

Build a Community Job Web

3rd–5th Grade

Write OUR COMMUNITY in the center of a sheet of paper.

Around it, add at least 10 occupations. Draw lines showing how the jobs depend on one another.

For example:

Farmer → truck driver → grocery worker → family

Ask your child to find some surprising connections. How might a veterinarian depend on a construction worker? How might a restaurant depend on a mechanic?

The goal is to discover that communities operate through networks of people doing different kinds of work.

Design a Better Workplace

6th–8th Grade

Imagine you are responsible for creating a workplace where 100 people will work.

Create a one-page Worker Bill of Rights containing 5–10 rules.

Consider:

• Reasonable working hours

• Breaks

• Pay

• Safety

• Equal treatment

• Time away from work

• Procedures for reporting problems

• Responsibilities workers have toward one another

Then compare your ideas with changes workers historically sought, such as shorter working hours and improved working conditions. The Smithsonian's Labor Day collection provides historical context:

https://www.si.edu/spotlight/labor-day

The collection connects Labor Day with developments including the eight-hour workday, five-day workweek, workers’ compensation, equal pay efforts, and campaigns against child labor.

Worksheets and Learning Activities

What’s My Job? — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

https://www.bls.gov/k12/teachers/activities/whats-my-job-activity.htm

This free government activity asks younger children to identify occupations using the objects and tools associated with different jobs.

K–2

Use the activity as designed. Afterwards, play your own version using household objects.

Try:

Stethoscope → healthcare workerPaintbrush → artistWrench → mechanicMixing bowl → baker or cook

Let children invent clues for you to solve.

3rd–5th Grade

Skip the easier matching activity and create 10 original “What’s My Job?” clues. Challenge another family member to identify each occupation.

6th–8th Grade

Turn the concept into career research. Pick five unfamiliar occupations and write three clues for each without revealing the job title.

Guess My Occupation — Bureau of Labor Statistics

https://www.bls.gov/k12/teachers/activities/guess-my-occupation-activity.htm

This free activity asks children to match workers with descriptions of their job duties and can lead into additional career exploration.

K–2

Read the descriptions aloud and let children match the workers.

3rd–5th Grade

Complete the activity independently, then choose one occupation to investigate further.

6th–8th Grade

Use the more advanced BLS career resources instead:

https://www.bls.gov/k12/teachers/activities/choosing-a-career.htm

This activity guides older students through researching education, training, skills, pay, job outlook, and other characteristics of an occupation.

Optional Deeper Exploration: Child Labor and Changing Working Conditions

For older children, Labor Day provides an excellent opportunity to examine how dramatically working life has changed.

Library of Congress: Child Labor Primary Source Set

https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/child-labor/

This free Library of Congress collection contains historical photographs, newspaper articles, cartoons, interviews, and other primary sources documenting child labor and efforts to change child labor laws. Some photographs depict difficult working conditions, so previewing them is recommended for sensitive children.

K–2

Skip the historical collection. Keep today's focus on community workers and appreciating the jobs people do.

3rd–5th Grade

With a parent, examine one carefully selected historical photograph.

Ask:

What do you notice first?What clues tell us when this photograph might have been taken?What questions would you ask the child in the photograph?

6th–8th Grade

Select two or three primary sources.

For each, record:

Observe: What can you directly see or read?

Infer: What might this evidence tell you?

Question: What can't this source tell you?

Finish by writing a short response:

How can historical evidence help us understand why workers sought changes to working conditions?

Why This Lesson Matters

Labor Day offers children something much richer than simply learning the name and date of a holiday.

Young children begin to understand that communities depend on many people doing different kinds of work. Older children can begin asking bigger questions about economics, history, fairness, workplace safety, technological change, and workers' rights.

The history also demonstrates that conditions people consider normal today did not simply appear. Workers and reformers spent generations debating and advocating for changes in American working life.

Just as importantly, studying work helps children recognize the dignity and complexity of occupations they encounter every day.

Wrap-Up: Who Makes Your Day Possible?

Finish today's lesson with a challenge.

Think about everything your family has used since waking up: electricity, running water, food, roads, clothing, internet service, buildings, packages, books, medicine, transportation, and household products.

K–2

Name five workers who helped make your day possible. Draw a picture thanking one of them.

3rd–5th Grade

Make a list of 10 workers whose efforts contributed to your day. Choose one and trace the chain of people needed for that person's job to happen.

6th–8th Grade

Choose one ordinary object you used today, such as a phone, pencil, T-shirt, cereal box, or bicycle. Trace as many workers as possible who may have contributed to getting that object into your hands—from raw materials and manufacturing to transportation, technology, sales, and delivery.

End with one question for everyone:

What would our communities look like without the work of other people?