Through dramatic play, children are free to use their imaginations to explore where their abilities can take them, and to experience feelings of control, power, and mastery. By building on their natural play experiences, students can begin to understand the true meaning of heroism and how they might start to develop heroic characteristics in themselves. This lesson plan, with a series of interactive activities, lets students explore their beliefs about heroes and heroism. By following the lesson plan, they will: share names of familiar figures they consider to be heroes, and then examine their reasons for such beliefs; view portraits of heroes from American history and glean background information on each; identify the heroic personality traits and characteristics of each hero; broaden their understanding of what makes a hero, enabling them to identify real-life heroes who surround them; share pictures and record reflections of their heroes, using these to create a Hero Hall of Fame; and consider ways they, too, may become everyday heroes. The lesson plan contains material on how to prepare to teach the lesson. It also contains suggested activities for the following lessons: (1) Introducing a Real-Life Hero; (2) Who Are Your Heroes? (3) What Makes a Hero? (4) Presenting Heroes from History; (5) Is There a Hero in You? and Extending the Lesson. The lesson plan provides information and ideas for teaching each lesson; cites learning objectives; gives appropriate grade levels (Grades K-2) and time required for each lesson; and outlines national standards for social studies, art, and English covered in the lesson plan. Lists several links to Web sites and other resources. (NKA)