The Storming of the Bastille

This worksheet is designed for students in Grades 6, 7, and 8 to deepen historical understanding and strengthen narrative writing through an immersive creative task set during the French Revolution. Learners take on the role of a time traveler arriving in Paris on July 14, 1789, and write a first-person journal entry describing the sights, sounds, emotions, and atmosphere of the storming of the Bastille, blending historical facts with vivid imagination, sensory detail, and reflective thinking.

Instructional Objectives

• Historical Narrative Writing (Grades 6-8) – Students compose a first-person journal entry grounded in a real historical event.
• Understanding the French Revolution – Learners demonstrate comprehension of the storming of the Bastille and its significance.
• Sensory Detail & Voice – Encourages use of descriptive language, emotion, and perspective to bring history to life.
• Creative & Critical Thinking – Blends factual accuracy with imaginative expression and personal reflection.

Instructional Support

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to support middle school ELA and social studies standards.
• Scaffolded Prompts – Guided questions help students organize ideas and include meaningful historical details.
• Engaging Role-Based Task – Time-traveler perspective increases motivation and historical empathy.
• Low-Prep & Printable – Easy to use for classwork, enrichment, or homeschool instruction.

This printable creative writing worksheet helps students experience history through storytelling while strengthening composition, descriptive writing, and historical comprehension. By journaling about the storming of the Bastille from a first-person viewpoint, learners connect facts to emotions, deepen understanding of the French Revolution, and practice vivid narrative techniques. Ideal for classroom or homeschool use, this activity offers a powerful way to make history memorable and meaningful through writing.

This worksheet is part of our Bastille Day Worksheets Collection.