There are so many types of class desks that are used in school and some are easier to use than others.
Your classroom will be equipped with the desks allocated – but check 3 things before you start.
- You have enough of them for the class
- The desks are the correct height for the children’s age
- The chairs are the right height for the desks
If any of these are incorrect then you should see a senior member of staff for guidance. This may occur if you have to go hunting for more desks and chairs if there are not enough allocated for your new class.
Desks usually fall into 2 shapes.
Rectangular 2 pupil desk as shown above
Square multi seating tables as shown.
You may also come across some larger rectangle tables and occasionally different shapes which may or may not fit together.
For Reception, the desk situation is completely different as work / play areas dominate so there may be various “wacky shaped” tables but hey that all helps!
The basic requirement is – can I join the tables together easily to form groups of children? That’s why most tables you will find will be 2 pupil rectangular as these give you the best options.
The worst table I have ever come across in class is the one below. It takes a huge amount of room in a normal classroom and cannot seat many children. Best suited to a specialist teaching room not a classroom. If you meet one of these in your classroom then try to get it removed as soon as possible !
Ok so we have arranged all our desks in the classroom – one of the previous articles gave advice on how best to approach this.
Make sure all children can easily see the front of the class without turning their chairs
Lets look at some other logistics associated with classroom desks – the first is storage.
In Primary classrooms the basic equipment needed is usually put on the group table. So items such as rulers, rubbers, crayons, pencils etc can be grouped in some form of storage container. As I have previously said – I used to buy plastic cutlery trays from Tesco for about £1 each which did the job.
This storage will mostly be sufficient for day to day tasks but there is a need for individual pupils extra storage for books papers etc – its amazing what you can see when these are cleaned out!
There are 2 ways these can be stored.
- If you’re lucky then the desks / tables have storage trays underneath the desk.
These are great except for the scraping of chairs when the children have to move back to get anything out!
The other option is for tray storage units with each child having a tray for their things and the child’s name on the front.
These are great but don’t forget that there are perhaps 20 children’s trays in 1 place – so don’t send the children all at once!! In addition you will have 2 of these tray storage units and so positioning of these can help. If you put them next to each other then you are limited in how many children you can send to get things at one time.
But if you position 1 tray unit at one side of the class and the other unit on the other side of the class then you can send 2 groups of children at the same time without there being a clash !!
So there you have it – a few notes about desks and storage for the children. It really starts with what you inherit in the class furniture wise and then how creative you can be. Take another look at the article about class management and seating which will help you sort this out.
Oh just as an extra – if you have a wheelchair pupil then get their position in class sorted first as they require possibly their own furniture and equipment. They will usually have T.A help anyway but its generally best to sort this out first and then build the rest around it.
Hope this helps
Charles