Before the class arrives, set station trays to one side (do not hand them out yet). Have one mirror and one torch ready in your hand for the hook only. Pre-stage spare Bounce kits (torch, mirror, target card) on the two Bounce tables so the later investigation reset is mostly seating, not kit hunting.

Dim the room a little if you can (blinds half closed is enough). Shine the torch at a hand mirror so a bright spot lands on the wall or board. Do not explain yet. Ask: How did the light get from the torch to the wall? Take two or three ideas. Keep it playful; wrong ideas are useful starting points.

Nature of STEM cue (one line only if it fits): people have watched rainbows for thousands of years, but it took careful testing with glass and water to work out that white light holds the colours inside it.

Project only the short board text. Curiosity question first; keep naming light. Do not put the whole table on the IWB. Bounce is the deep investigation later; spectrum and magnifier are shorter notice-and-name stops for now. Save fuller magnifier talk for Station C after they have compared bare eyes and the lens.

Misconception to head off: children often say the eye “sends out” light to see, or that a mirror “makes” light. Light comes from a source, bounces or bends, and then arrives at the eye. Nothing leaves the eye.

Worked model (say aloud before stations, one full cycle on the mirror only):

• I wonder if I can make this bright spot hit the blue sticker on the board by bouncing the beam.
• I predict that if I tilt the mirror a little, the spot will climb up the wall.
• I test by shining the torch at the mirror, not at the sticker, and tilting slowly.
• I observed the spot move until it sat on the sticker.
• I think the light went in a straight line to the mirror, then bounced off at a new angle to the target.

Then send groups to the stations. Curiosity choice is enough as a send-off.

Before the lesson

• Print the provided tiny-print cards and target cards (full card texts below).
• Set station tables as in the rotation plan.
• Pre-stage spare Bounce kits on the Bounce tables for the later investigation.
• Dull day with no outdoor sun: use the prism and torch indoors. If using the water backup, use the mirror-in-water setup below, never bare water alone.

Concrete class structure (adjust numbers to your roll)

Plan for about six groups of three or four. Preferred layout so every group gets hands-on at every station: six tables in parallel — two Bounce (Station A: mirror, torch, target card each), two Split (Station B), two Closer-look (Station C: hand magnifier + tiny-print card each).

Station B throughput (choose what you can resource):

• Best: run two spectrum setups at once (class prism on one B table; water tray with angled submerged mirror + white card + torch on the other). Then every group gets a real hands-on turn at Split in the rotation.
• If only one spectrum setup: host one B table yourself. Rotate every 5–6 minutes on your call through three slots so each group visits A, B and C. With six groups and one B seat, three groups get hands-on at B and three watch one slot then swap onto a free table when one frees. Watching is real participation: fold waiters in with What colours do you think will appear? and Where will the spot go if they tilt the mirror?. Be honest with yourself: equal hands-on at B is not possible with one prism and six groups in 17 minutes. The observe-spectrum outcome is still met for every child by (1) watching a clear split at B and (2) the guided prism scene in step 6. Protect equal hands-on at A and C; do not let Bounce eat the whole rotation.

Printable card texts (print these exactly)

Card C — Tiny print (Station C): print in the smallest readable font you can: Robins hop on the school grass when the morning is quiet and bright. Underneath in normal teacher size (not for pupils to need): pupils first try bare eyes, then the magnifier. After they read it with the magnifier, ask aloud: The print looks bigger. What do you think the curved glass did to the light? Steer them to “it bends the light,” from talk about what they saw, not from any claim printed on the card.

Card A — Target (Station A): a simple bold circle or star. Print one set labelled Blue target and one set labelled Red target (colour name only; no other text). One target card per Bounce table is enough for explore; keep spare targets for the later bounce investigation.

Station B spectrum tools

Preferred: triangular prism (the clear triangle block of glass or plastic) and torch onto white card or a pale wall.

Water backup / second setup: shallow clear tray of water with a small mirror propped at an angle under the surface. Aim the torch at the submerged mirror so a spectrum lands on white card or the wall. Bare water with no angled mirror rarely shows a clear spectrum; do not run that weaker setup as the main demo.

Signs they are looking carefully

• Station A: children aim at the mirror, not the target, and tilt slowly.
• Station B: they see more than one colour (even a faint band counts).
• Station C: they can read the sentence with the magnifier, say it looks larger or clearer, and (with your prompt after the compare) say the lens bends light.

Safety live reminders

Never shine torches in eyes. Never look at the sun or at the sun through a lens or magnifier. Never use a magnifier to focus sunlight onto skin or paper. Handle mirrors and glass with two hands; wipe water spills at once.

Differentiation: less confident pairs work Station A first (clearest success). Confident pairs at A can try a second bounce path with a spare small mirror if you have one. Spectrum and magnifier stay shorter notice-and-name stops; bounce carries the deeper investigation next.

Reset bridge (aim under 2 minutes — kits already staged): call stop on stations. Park prism and water tray on a safe side table. Send every trio straight to a Bounce table where torch, hand mirror and target card are already waiting (pre-staged before the lesson; spare Station A kits cover extra trios). Name roles as they sit, e.g. nearest the window holds the torch, middle tilts the mirror, third is spotter. If short of kits, two trios share and swap after one successful hit. Do not rebuild groups from scratch in the middle of the room.

This beat is the deep investigation: same physics as Station A, but with a clear success check (hit the target), a spoken prediction first, torch kept still, and one deliberate retarget. Make that difference obvious on the board and in your send-off words. The 10 minutes is for predict–hit–retarget, not regrouping.

Model once at the front only if needed: torch fixed on a book, mirror in hand, target on the board. Narrate: I change only the tilt of the mirror. I keep the torch still. I measure success by whether the spot lands on the target.

Swap roles once if time allows.

If the room is too bright: cup a hand as a hood around the torch, or work in the shadiest corner. The light-rays step later still consolidates the bounce idea if the beam is hard to see.

Key question while you circulate: Did the light travel in a straight line to the mirror, then change direction?

Pupils record on the paper Investigation Journal page only. No typing. Station jots should already be started; this step is for tidying, filling gaps, and adding the bounce success check so spectrum and magnifier are not invented from memory alone.

Keep the board checklist short. Coach observation versus idea in your talk only (do not put that abstract line on the board): I saw a band of colours on the card is an observation; so white light holds the colours inside is the idea they will meet more firmly in the next step.

Circulate and push for at least one note or drawing per station plus the bounce hit. Fast finishers add a simple arrow sketch of the bounce path on spare paper.

Do not invent extra columns or name layout boxes on the journal page. Say only what to record; the page layout is generated separately.