Dragons East and West: teacher key

Dragons and Mythical Creatures, grade 8 edition, written for 8th grade. Chinese rain dragons, English treasure guards, Welsh dragons under a hill, and the real animals that may stand behind monsters of old stories.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What did old Chinese stories say dragons brought?
   • Gold for kings
   • Rain to help crops grow (answer)
   • Snow for winter
2. Why did Chinese villages hold a dragon dance for farms?
   • To scare off storms
   • To mark a king's birthday
   • To coax the dragon into sending rain (answer)
3. Where does the English word dragon come from?
   • The Greek word drakon, meaning serpent (answer)
   • A Welsh word for fire
   • A Chinese word for rain
4. What is a narwhal's long spiral horn really?
   • A bone from its back
   • A fin
   • A tooth (answer)
5. Why might ancient people have thought huge fossils belonged to dragons?
   • Dragons had been seen alive
   • They did not know about dinosaurs or extinction (answer)
   • The fossils breathed fire
6. Which real animal may be behind the kraken?
   • The giant squid (answer)
   • The manatee
   • The Komodo dragon

Words

• zodiac: twelve-animal calendar
• bestiaries: old animal books
• fossil: ancient stone remains
• tusk: long tooth
• folklore: traditional stories