School Yard Chatter -Year 3 and Year 4 talking about their topic 'Space' to the Outlook Newspaper

The sun may have been shining in the playground, but all the Primary Three and Four children at St Mary's Primary School in Dechomet could talk about last week was space.

Mrs McEvoy's star-gazing class have recently studied this topic and learnt many interesting facts about the solar system. They were keen to share their new-found knowledge with Schoolyard Chatter when we visited. 

Daire was very excited to tell me a fact she learnt about Neil Armstrong. 

"Neil Armstrong was born in Ohio."

"Do you know where that it, Daire?" I asked. 

"It's in America.

"I learnt loads of information about space that I did not know," said Daire.

Eloise told me there are eight planets and her favourite is Jupiter. 

"It's my favourite because I like Jupiter's colour," said Eloise.

When I was small there were nine planets, but the children quite rightly pointed out that there are now only eight after Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet back in 2006. 

Anton said his favourite planet is the one he lives on: "My favourite is earth."

"There is a yellow piece inside the earth," Anton told me. 

Tadhg loved learning all about the moon. 

"I learnt that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon," said Tadhg. 

While Ellie was able to tell me all about the planets.

"There are eight planets," said Ellie, who added that Earth was her favourite.

"There is one moon that everyone sees," Ellie also told me. 

"Tim Peake is still at the International Space Station with the other boy," said Chelsey who also recited the words said by the first man on the moon.

"Neil Armstrong was the first man to land on the moon and when he landed there he said: 'That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind'," said Chelsey. 

Then we took a moonwalk over to the next Primary Three table where Mia told me how Mr Armstrong was able to get to the moon.

"He got into a spaceshuttle. I would like to go to space but I would be a wee bit scared," said Mia.

The class also made rockets and spaceships for their displays, as part of their space topic.

Ellin said she made a rocket and explained to me how that was achieved. 

"We got two cardboard tubes, painted them and stuck them together and decorated it then made a cone.

"It was good fun," said Ellin. 

Patrick told me that Jupiter was his favourite planet as it "has many colours". 

"I only thought that it was orange but it is yellow, orange and a load of other different colours."

Matthew said it was "very cool" that Neil Armstrong went to the moon, but is unsure if it is a task he would like in the future!

"I would not like to go to space because of the risk of not coming back," said Matthew.

Micah then explained how the class made their own "space dictionaries".

"We cut stars out of paper and we cut planets out of paper and stuck them onto a black sheet of paper and then it tells you all about the planets. I like learning about space," said Micah. 

At the other side of the room were the Primary Four children, who were waiting with anticipation to tell me what they learnt about space.

Emer Sa told me that Neil Armstrong was born in 1930. 

"He was the first astronaut to step on the moon and he got his pilot's licence when he was 15," said Emer Sa. 

"A group of stars is a constellation," Kayla told me.

"I have a book at home that tells me all about the different constellations," said Kayla.

Emer St also learnt that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, something she did not know before.  

"I don't know if I would want to go to the moon," said Emer St. However she is impressed with how they "float in space".

"I would like to do that but not in a spaceship because it is too scary," said Emer St. 

"When Neil Armstrong first landed on the moon, he said 'the eagle has landed'," Rio told me, while James said he did not think he could be like Neil Armstrong and get his pilot's licence when he is 15. 

"It is amazing that he was able to do that when he was a young boy," said James. 

Anton G informed me that it takes over 100 years for Neptune to go around the sun.

"It's a long time," said Anton G. 

Joe, Elijah and Manus all liked learning about the stars. 

"The warm stars are white or blue and the colder stars are red or orange," said Joe. 

Elijah said that "when stars have strong gravity, they sometimes form a black hole".

"I like looking up at the stars. When I go to my nanny's house I have a great view from the window," said Elijah. 

Manus asked me if I knew that "the sun is actually a star?"

"It is really big," said Manus.

As I said my goodbyes to the pupils, I left Mrs McEvoy's class with a lot more information than I went in. I had to be reminded by a group of six, seven and eight year-olds that there are now only eight planets in our solar system!