About us
42nd Street Elementary and its Community
Forty-Second Street Elementary, home of the 42nd Street Falcons is located in the Leimert Park area in Los Angeles, California. The area is surrounded by beautiful trees and a quiet community of Spanish-style homes and apartments where most of our students walk to and from school. A Forty-Second Street is comprised of 27 classrooms, a multi-purpose room / auditorium, student/teacher cafeteria, library, Computer Lab, Resource Room, Makers' Lab, Edible Garden area, Nurses Office, Teacher's Workroom, and a Parent Center. The School offers Dual Language (Spanish) Program, instrumental orchestra, drama and dance lessons, botanical garden lessons, Expanded Transitional Kindergarten (ETK) program, and iPads for every student.
Extra-curriculum activities include robotics club, Drill Team, afterschool enrichment programs, Girlscouts, individual tutoring, and more.
Just down a block, the school borders Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., where the King Parade is held every year to honor one of our nation's greatest African American leaders, the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This street also borders the famous Los Angeles Sports Arena, Exposition Park, as well as USC (University Of Southern California), home to The USC Trojans. Leimert Park, where Forty-Second Street School resides, is a warm community of a multitude of cultures.
Falcon Symbolism and Meaning
The fierce Falcon has special symbolism and meaning in Egypt where it represented the rising sun. As the “king” of birds, Falcon represents victory, leadership, and overcoming. Like other birds, Falcon also signifies the Higher Self and connections with the spirit world. Falcon’s message is start planning and thinking ahead. Eventually you will be called upon to act, but not without a sound strategy to guide you. Falcon makes you intimately aware of your own potential. Most personal achievements come when we recognize the proverbial life tools we have in our box. Applying those tools and maintaining focus brings about a soaring success.
Falcon may also bear the message of attentiveness. If you are too close to a situate step back and rise above! From here, the situation or environment that surrounds provides clues – increasing your perception and supporting strength of purpose.
Falcon’s alignment with solar energy brings fiery power into the equation. Falcon asks: what is your passion? Are you acting on that passion intelligently? The pursuit of objectives comes naturally to Falcon, but not without having a tactical plan laid out.
Other characteristics ascribed to Falcon include energy, foresight, ambition, fortitude, willpower, transformation, vision, mental acuity, freedom, control, magical aptitude and a bright life-force.
One of the most popular falcons is the Peregrine, known to be quite the traveler. This bird lives throught the glob and migrates as necessary. Analytical and strategic, the Peregrine Falcon observes its prey and considers the best way to obtain that goal. As a Spirit Animal, falcon teaches us this skill-focusing all our attention on one thing so we can manifest that desire in the most efficient manner possible.
History of the Falcon
Falcon, any of nearly 60 species of hawks of the family Falconidae (order Falconiformes), diurnal birds of prey characterized by long, pointed wings and swift, powerful flight. The name is applied in a restricted sense, as true falcons, to the genus Falco, which numbers more than 35 species. Falcons occur virtually worldwide. They range in size from about 15 cm (6 inches) long in the falconets (Microhierax) to about 60 cm (24 inches) in the gyrfalcon, an Arctic species. In true falcons the female is the larger and bolder of the males and is preferred for the sport of falconry. Falcons have plumes called “flags” on their legs and a notch in the beak that is well developed in the genus Falco to form a “tooth.”
Falcons commonly nest in holes in trees or on natural ledges on cliffs. The eggs are usually four or five in number and buffy white in colour, speckled and blotched with reddish brown. The incubation period is about 28 or 35 days, and the young are cared for in the nest for as long as 35 days.
The flight of falcons is fast and direct with the wings rapidly digging through the air. Some falcons habitually hover while scanning the ground for prey. Some species capture birds of their own size or smaller in midair. Others live mainly on hares, mice, lizards, and insects.