The purpose of the study reported on here was to explore ways in which the interactive whiteboard (IWB) can support students' understanding of texts. A Year 3 and a Year 4 primary school class in New South Wales, Australia, is the focus of the research. A qualitative case study was carried out using multimodal analysis focusing on the use of an e-book displayed via the IWB. The results of the study indicate that the IWB can support students' understanding of a narrative to prepare them to write a whole-class response through providing increased access to a range of resources that are multimodal in nature. The way the interactive features of the IWB can facilitate access to multimodal resources to cater for student needs is also discussed. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)