Louisiana 5th Grade Social Studies Unit 2: Crusades, Black Death & Hundred Years’ War

Help students move beyond memorizing isolated medieval events and learn to analyze perspective, cause and effect, chronology, and historical significance with this Louisiana Grade 5 Social Studies unit aligned to current Standards 5.9f–5.9h.

This unit completes the Medieval Europe portion of Standard 5.9 and focuses on the Crusades, Black Death, and Hundred Years’ War, including Henry V and Joan of Arc. Students examine how the Crusades affected Christian, Muslim, and Jewish populations differently; how the Black Death spread across connected regions and produced major demographic, social, and economic effects; and why Henry V and Joan of Arc are significant to the Hundred Years’ War. 

Students use short sources, maps, timelines, and evidence-based questions instead of relying on oversimplified historical claims. The resource intentionally avoids forcing unrelated Louisiana connections or teaching that major historical events had only one simple cause.

Practice uses the exact Crack the Test Co. READ THE CLUES → ANNOTATE → FIND EVIDENCE → ANALYZE → ELIMINATE & JUSTIFY routine and includes selected response, multiple select, true two-part practice, technology-enhanced style items, source and point-of-view analysis, a 4-point constructed response, task cards, self-check answer cards, teacher keys, and a Google Forms setup guide. 

A Teacher Vocabulary Quick Reference in PDF format.