Free Printable Labor Day Coloring Pages and Lesson Plans

Spring is a poignant time in labor history. March 25, 1911 remembers 146 workers, mostly women, lost in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. April 16 mourns Ireland's Easter Rising of slain Feinians. April 28 marks Workers' Memorial Day, on which the organized labor movement pays tribute to the fallen in workplace accidents or in organized labor struggles. May 1 is May Day, honoring International Workers' Day. May 4 commemorates casualties at Chicago's Haymarket riot at a 1886 labor rally. May 19, 1920 is a day when the organized labor movement grieves the Matewan and Mingo County massacre of coal miners. On May 26, 1937 those who would from unions were assaulted at Ford's River Rouge plant "Battle of the Overpass" in Detroit.

Organized labor history is taught as part of American history, but there is no American (or world) history without labor history. Unions, collective bargaining--the fight for workers' rights impact every industry, occupation and person. Teachers and homeschoolers, you can educate students about unions with these free printable May Day and labor history lesson plans. These links include websites, activities, worksheets, movies and books on the organized labor movement.

The American Labor Studies Center offers a gamut of free printable organized labor movement lesson plans. It covers history, events, strikes, lockouts, workplace injuries, child labor, working conditions, collective bargaining, 8-hour workday, sweatshops, slavery, organizing, indentured servitude, socialism and labor, women's rights, African American labor issues, minority discrimination concerns, ULP (unfair labor practices). Lessons cover the Triangle fire (the worst workplace accident in history), West Virginia labor, Pullman Strike (1894), Lawrence Textile Strike (1913), Lowell Strike, Paterson Silk Strike, agriculture strikes and other events. Get free printable union labor worksheets, fill-ins, puzzles and study guides. There are links to films

Explore famous labor leaders: Noam Chomsky, Joe Hill, "Big Bill" Haywood, Pete Seeger, Jimmy Hoffa, Caesar Chavez, the Wisconsin 14 and others from the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), AFL-CIO, Teamsters and more. This site has biographies of women labor leaders including Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Mary Harris "Mother" Jones and more. To use in lessons, print the list of names on one side and short bios on the other side (mixed up). Students match person with details. Print photos and pin to a map at places they are associated with. Or make a time line along the wall. Plot images in history.

The National Endowment for the Humanities offers two companion lessons in its series The Industrial Age in America. "Sweatshops, Steel Mills and Factories" and "Robber Barons and Captains of Industry" define the problems faced by workers in labor history and the reasons for the organized labor movement. Use the worksheets and activities with middle school and high school students.

The Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University in Detroit maintains the largest organized labor history archive in the U.S. It has an impressive collection of images in physical exhibits and digital archives on The Labor Movement and Organizations. Walther Reuther who was one of several injured at Ford's Rouge factory "Battle of the Overpass" in Detroit.

The United Farm Workers is the union begun by Cesar Chavez that tends to itinerant and agricultural labor issues. Along with labor movement, the UFW educates people about food safety, immigration, deportation, earth and green initiatives, pesticides and more. An important piece is the youth activism page. UFW seeks to take union and agricultural awareness beyond the classroom walls and into real life.

In honor of May Day, here's a quote from the Albert Shanker Institute. "Imagine opening a high school U.S. history textbook and finding no mention of-or at most a passing sentence about-Valley Forge, the Missouri Compromise...Benjamin Franklin, Lewis and Clark. Imagine if these key events and people just disappeared as if they'd never existed...That is what has happened in history textbooks when it comes to labor's part in the American story." Use these lesson plans to keep the May Day stories and message alive.

Free Printable Early American History and Pioneer Lesson Plans

Most elementary school curriculum contains a unit on American history. In 4th grade, many states require teachers to study pioneer, settler and early American history in their classrooms. Here are free printable American history lesson plans with ELA connections. 

History Explorer is the Smithsonian Institute's educational resources link. Here are free printable American history lessons and activities. Teachers, check the grade level and specific period of American history for which you need lesson plans. You might also want to simply peruse their catalog of resources and lesson plans for ideas.

New Hampshire Public Television has a extensive web of free printable early American history lessons, interactive games, worksheets, diagrams, maps and charts. A-Z Teacher Stuff offers a compilation of free printable early American history lessons on pioneers and US settlers. Camp Silos has great free printable pioneers and settlers games, scavenger hunt and activities about early American life.

42 Explore 2 covers pioneers and US settlers life state by state. Free printable American history lessons include native Americans, westward expansion and much more. PBS has free printable early American history activities and resources galore. Registration doesn't cost anything, but it will help you access the sites history lesson plans. 

American History Lesson Plans: 3 Branches of Government

Some American government lessons are easier to teach than others. The three branches of government, with its system of checks and balances can be tricky to explain. So here are free printable American government lessons with objects lessons to help kids understand. To understand checks and balances and three branches of government, imagine a table or stool resting on three equal legs. The three legs are the three branches. Each of the three legs has equal strength and equal responsibility for holding the table straight. Each of the three branches of government (three legs) has its own functions and all three have equal power--each checks and balances the other. Each checks the other two make sure neither becomes to powerful and balances the others in carrying its fair share. 

Use these free printable American government lesson plans to explain that the three branches of government are-- the Judicial, Legislative and the Executive Branches. Each of the three branches of government has its own functions and all three have equal power. The Executive Branch includes the President of the United States, Vice-President and the Presidential Cabinet, which has 15 departments. The Executive Branch carries out laws. The president can veto laws also and appoints judges. The head of each department is called a Secretary, except for the Department of Justice whose head is called the Attorney General. 

These are the Presidential Cabinet departments. Department of State- international relations with other countries, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Department of the Interior - wildlife and natural resources, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Labor, Urban Development, Commerce, Transportation, Energy, Education, Veterans' Affairs, Homeland Security 

The Legislative Branch: This branch, also called Congress checks and balances by making laws. The Legislative Branch has two branches--the Senate has 100 senators, two from each state. The House of Representatives has 435 members. Each state gets a certain number of representatives depending upon state population. For a bill (suggested law) to become a law it must be approved by both houses. The Judicial Branch: This branch includes judges and the court system. 

The Judicial Branch checks and balances the others by interpreting or examining and explaining the laws and Constitution. The courts decide how laws should applied in different cases. The Supreme Court decides the most important cases