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The following article is devoted to the study of parents’ attitude to the content and forms of the educational process in preschool institutions. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the following three aspects: an assessment of parents’ overall satisfaction with the educational process; an assessment of the parental stance on the quality of education in kindergarten; the parental stance on the efficiency of teaching and development of the child’s personality in kindergarten. The article is based on a questionnaire survey of 486 parents of senior preschool aged children attending kindergartens in Moscow. The questionnaire used in the research was developed by the group of the Center for the Sociology of Education of the Russian Academy of Education. The respondents were given a wide range of questions related to their attitude to the system of preschool education, their life values, characteristics of child-parent relations, etc. The article analyzes the particularities of parents’ attitudes toward the educational process in preschool institutions, depending on the influence of socio-demographic (sex, age) and socio-stratification (financial status, level of education, two or one-parent family) factors. The results reveal the clear domination of positive parental characterization of the content and form of classes conducted in the kindergartens of Moscow, as well as positive characterization of the professional qualifications of the teachers. The received materials also testify that the overwhelming majority of modern parents of preschool children highly appreciate the quality of the child’s education in kindergarten in various directions (development of speech, literacy, development of elementary mathematical representations, formation of ideas about nature, design, aesthetic development, physical culture, patriotic education). The data given in the article allows us to conclude that parents with low material status tend to estimate the positive influence of the kindergarten on the development of their child significantly below those of other social classes.

The article is devoted to the elaboration of a methodological guidance for environmental education of preschool children. It provides a theoretical analysis of issues in preschool institution guidance, in general, and environmental education, in particular. It explains the need for a new approach – “analytical and corrective interaction” (ACI) – in the methodological guidance of environmental education in a preschool center aiming at care-givers’ professional and personal self-development, enhancing their environmental culture and its formation of the latter in children. It discloses the essence, content and procedural algorithm of analytical and corrective interaction, the specificity and sequence of its implementation stages. The article discusses the results of testing the new approach to methodical guidance, specific features of ACI implementation in practice, the content of a methodologist’s activity, the nature of his management, which determines the efficiency of interaction, manifestations of teachers in the process of experimentation. It shows this unique methodology of environmental education as a relatively new trend in preschool pedagogy which forms the basis of a system of working with children and which should be communicated to kindergarten teachers in the process of analytical and corrective interaction. The results of the study make it possible to determine the effectiveness of ACI research and experimental testing. The article is addressed to environmentalists, methodologists of preschool educational institutions, students and teachers at teacher training institutions and researchers.

The article deals with the conceptual and theoretical basis of talent and analyzes the organizational and pedagogical conditions that determine preschool education teachers’ readiness for innovation as well as their awareness of changes needed to be made in the content of pre-school education, and the development of intellectual and creative abilities and talent during formation of the innovation educational system and introduction of the Federal Preschool Educational Standard. The author examines six areas of talent, which cover most children’s abilities. It is shown that gifted children tend to have an edge nearly in all the parameters of their development. The areas responding to their talents show these kids not only to attain levels more typical for older kids, but it also indicates that the process of their development and the results of their activities is unique. The author emphasizes the need for a special training program for teachers and parents to work with gifted children, which would serve as a theoretical and methodological basis for practical work.

The article describes the construction of an educational process based on the comprehensive and thematic planning principles with regard to integration of educational areas. The author notes that it is necessary to design a holistic educational process organization model for the whole school year, to create a streamlined system for planning an educational process. Author emphasizes a teacher’s creative approach to the modeling of an educational process. It is pointed out that organizing a thematic day most naturally combines the contents of educational areas enabling the educator to integrate his/ her educational activities and avoid unnecessary fragmentation of children’s activities into this or that educational area. The author cites examples of organizing thematic days in a kindergarten and notes that the scenario plan for a thematic day is to ensure unity of educational, developmental and educational goals and objectives in preschool children education and the integration of educational areas. Author concludes that comprehensive thematic planning should comply with the requirements for implementation of the preschool education program which are listed in the Federal State Education Standard for preschool educational institutions. In particular, it is necessary to use such forms and methods of work with children in the educational activity that are appropriate to their age and individual characteristics and exclude both artificial acceleration and deceleration of children’s development.