Final answer:
Baird's classroom activities aim to encourage socialization, cooperation, and sharing. These activities are crucial for children's social development and help them to form friendships based on common play interests and interactions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Baird's efforts to set up activities and learning centers in her first-grade classroom is aimed at fostering socialization, cooperation, and sharing among students. These environments create opportunities for social development within educational settings, influencing how students form social networks and develop interpersonal skills. The interactions and common play interests facilitated by these learning centers underpin the formation of friendships at this developmental stage. Through such structured activities, children not only learn academic content but also how to work as a team, share, and cooperate - skills critical for adult life.