Before the students practiced these movements to music, I had stand up

and listen to the initial section of the song. Then when they heard the music
change, they sat down on the gym floor. The energy of the music picks up
noticeably here so the students were able to hear the change easily. I
asked them what the music made them think of (a storm) and how the
leaves would move in this section. They used words like "quickly" and
"fast."

Discussion

When I introduced the movement of Whirling to the class, I had a few

students describe what the word meant to them and a few students
modeled the word to the class. We also discussed differences between
turning and whirling. I had them do the same for the concept of Leaping.
They described the movement and showed examples, and then we
discussed the differences between similar words - like hopping and
jumping.

Activities

The activities I chose to use with the students allowed them to focus on the
movements themselves, without worrying about the others around them. By
having them form two lines and take turns Whirling and Leaping across the
gym they had the freedom to really explore the movements. Because I
wanted all students to be participating as much as possible, I put them into
two lines, and had students leave the line every 4 or 5 seconds. This meant
that while they had enough space between each other to not interfere, they
were still able to be involved in the activity for much of the time.

Putting it Together

When it came time for the students to actually put these movements into
the dance, they were were prepared. After trying out the Whirling/Leaping
section to music, I had them go right through to the end of the song. Most
of them used the appropriate movements in each section, demonstrating
their ability to connect the music to the movements. They used a variety of
pathways and levels and I was impressed with their awareness of one
another. I had asked them to dance for the entire song, and to think about
the music at the end to help them decide how to move. We hadn't
discussed Settling yet, and they hadn't heard that section of the song until
then. I was interested in seeing how they would respond. Some of the
students ended the song by coming back to drifting and whirling, but some
actually took it a step further and slowed right down and settled to the
ground. They all seemed to be aware of the change in the music.