Drawing helps children organize their ideas for expression in story writing in several ways. Drawing promotes the first writing, and this writing becomes the first reading material that children themselves author. Children draw pictures and write to organize ideas and construct meaning from their experiences. Open-ended opportunities to write and draw in relaxed contexts, without adults stating "the right way" to do either, enable children not only to sort pictures from print but also to gain expertise in each context. With a review of the research and many everyday examples, the author examines young children's acts of putting marks on paper-scribbles, drawing, and writing-and the role of the teacher. In this article, the author presents a "Some Stages of Writing Development" chart, delineating children's development of and negotiation between drawing and writing.