Most school desks in elementary and high schools have bookboxes. There are two types of book boxes: open or closed. Closed bookboxes (metal or plastic) can only be seen into by the person sitting at the school desk. An open or wire bookbox is one made of solid metal crossbars, into which you can see from all sides. Some schools insist on open ones so they can see what kids have in their bookboxes at all times.
Another choice of school furniture is flip-lid desks. These are school desks where the tabletop flips up to reveal a compartment underneath. Because these have been known to slam shut on little fingers, they are not as popular.
Most classroom furniture, including school desks, have adjustable legs to seat kids of all ages and sizes. Fourth graders and above generally need a desk height of 30 inches from floor to desktop. For smaller kids, the desk should adjust down to 22–24 inches, shorter for toddlers.
School desks come in different colors. The most common are wood colors (e.g., walnut, oak), but gray also is popular. If color-coordinating your classroom furniture is important to you, consider our Educational Edge series. These desks feature a gray laminate top with a variety of trim colors to add color to your room and coordinate with the rest of your classroom furniture.
Probably the most important consideration in choosing school desks is the type of top. The least expensive top is called a laminate - a wood top with a processed surface protecting it from minor damage.
If you are concerned that kids will try to write on school furniture and/or dig sharp edges into their desks, consider a hard plastic desktop instead. A kid can try to dig his pen into a hard plastic top and nothing will happen. Our hard plastic classroom furniture is extremely durable and this choice will save you money over the life of the desk even if it costs more initially.
A third option combines the strength of hard plastic yet approaches the price of a laminate surface. Hertz’s exclusive WoodStone series has a hard plastic surface (made of neither wood nor stone) with a core of wood and/or wood parts. This is just as hard as hard plastic top, but less expensive due to cost of materials.
In kindergartens and preschools you'll often find activity tables. These come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors.
Shapes include round, rectangle, kidney- and flower-shaped. You'll be able to fit different amounts of children around these tables depending on the size of the table and age of the children.
Kidney-shaped activity tables are popular because the teacher sits in the middle (indented) part with students all around her. About eight kids can fit around a kidney-shaped table. Like school desks, activity tables come with adjustable legs and in a variety of colors.
If you are looking into furnishing a brand new classroom or are thinking of replacing old school furniture, the above information should help you in your research.