i rs t grader Daniel i s absorbed, turning the pages of Catch That Cat! , a wordless picture book about an extraordinary feline who rescues her owner from a shipyard villain. When the teacher approaches Daniel and invites him to tell her the story, Daniel interprets and dramatizes the black and white drawings with nonverbal gestures and sound-making. Crouching like a cat and uttering the word “meow,” Daniel moves in and out of drama to elaborate the narrative and transform the sequence of pictures into words, as the teacher asks questions to frame what he observes and enacts. In this glimpse of classroom life, Daniel and his teacher create a story narrative based on the visual images of a book. Proceeding from artwork to drama to narrative, Daniel goes deeply into the story, not just to write a description (the cat is small) or label inanimate objects (the cat; the boy), but to connect, through narrative, the moments and events of the story while bringing into play expressive literacies that go beyond print (e.g., art interpretation, role playing, sound making). Daniel and the other first graders often express themselves by drawing on multiple literacies, the complex amalgam of communicative channels, symbols, and signs (Piazza 2; The New London Group 61). With many available options, they frame ideas from different perspectives and demonstrate their competence in a variety of ways. In recent years, at tempts have been made to integrate nonprint and extralinguistic (nonlanguage) literacies with language instruction.1 This trend is often attributed to a greater emphasis on inquiry models and interactive methods, meaning as socially constructed, recognition of multiple intelligences, and value in expressing emotional and personal experiences through the visual and performing arts. Research in multiple literacies suggests, for instance, that when students respond to literature through drama, music, and even mathematics, they expand, enrich, and unravel potential meanings not otherwise possible (Alejandro 12; Eisner, “Role” 48; Short, Kauffman, and Kahn 160). Just as readers benefit from multiple forms of expression, so too do writers, especially during prewriting, the part of the process that extends “from the time a F