The children in the Stars room continue to build independence as they serve themselves during snack time, negotiate problems with others, and make choices throughout the day. You will also see their social-emotional skills grow in leaps and bounds as they leave parallel play behind and begin to engage in true cooperative play where they build on each other’s ideas and begin to take on role playing (I’ll be the Daddy, you be the baby.”). Of course this can lead to disagreements and problems, which are all part of learning. Children learn to use their words to express their thoughts and desires and to negotiate with each other to figure out how to take turns and listen to others’ point of view. Children this age are really beginning to look to friends for information in addition to their teachers; you’ll find we have lots of spaces in our classroom where small groups may congregate to play a game, look at a book together, or build. We have 4 full time teachers and 16 children in this classroom.