Labor Day - Math Exploration and Cross-Curricular Connections to Start the New School Year

This Monday, September 2, 2025, we celebrate Labor Day here in the United States and Canada. Labor Day is celebrated in other countries as well, though many are celebrated on May 1. There is a sordid history to the creation of a National Holiday for Labor Day - which aims to celebrate the contributions of laborers to the country. A lot of this is connected to the efforts of labor unions, who helped create 8-hour work days, minimum wages, weekends off, vacation days, safe working environments, working age limits, etc.

I am not going to go into details about the history, riots, working conditions, etc. that led to Labor Day as a National Holiday, as there are other resources that do a much better job at this than I ever could. Here are a couple links I found which delve into the history of Labor Day, and what conditions were like prior to workers getting together to fight for their rights, along with traditions that surround the celebration of the day.

1. National Day Calendar

2. Labor Day - 2021

3. What Is Labor Day and Why Do We Celebrate It?

4. History of Labor Day

5. Labor Day Fun Facts

6. 10 Fascinating Facts About Labor Day

7. Labor Day - September 2, 2024 (this is from last year but it has some great numbers/graphs)

If you look at some of the articles linked above, you will see lots of information, including numbers describing some facts about Labor Day. It's full of fascinating historical significance, from economic, political, race, gender and age points of view. Exploring Labor Day could really be an incredible cross-curriculum learning experience for students, since there is history, mathematics, politics, and more. 

Since this is the beginning of the school year, spending some time problem-solving with Labor Day facts and numbers would be a great way to engage students in learning, allowing them to review and apply concepts, make connections between subject areas, and focus on real-world learning that is relevant. Since most students get a holiday off from school for Labor Day (and some don't even start school until after Labor Day). It would be nice to have them explore and do some problem-solving of interest to them around this day to learn and discover that it is more than just a day off or the symbolic end of summer.

With this in mind, I have taken some of the numerical information from one of the articles listed above and created a quick video on one possible  problem-solving exploration for this beginning of the school-year time using the fx-991CW scientific calculator. Whether you are in school already, or starting school after Labor Day, using some of the numbers in these articles could provide some student choice that allows for review, historical connections, and problem-solving that will begin the year with students engaged and collaborating. Reading some of the articles and giving students some choice on what they explore and letting them set up their own investigation would be a fun way to start the school year.