When students in grades six to 12 return to school on Aug. 29, every one of them will have a world’s worth of information at their fingertips, literally.

For the first time, high school students and Wareham Middle School students in grades six through eight were issued personal Chromebook laptops to be used at home in the classroom for a variety of assignments. School officials had tested the Chromebooks on a smaller, trial basis for the past two years in some classrooms. Financial support from voters at previous Town Meetings helped purchase the computers.

“We’re obviously very excited about this,” said High School Principal Scott Palladino. “The teachers have had Chromebooks in their hands since December. We’re looking forward to moving into the 21st century.”

Palladino said the Chromebooks will broaden educational opportunities across the board for students and teachers.

“There will be opportunities for students to do research where they’ll be getting up to date information from reputable websites. There are applications regarding classroom projects, presentations – everything will be enhanced quite a bit with this technology,” said Palladino.

All together, 550 Chromebooks were handed out to students one week before school started. Palladino noted that parents and students are responsible for any damages to the laptops. Also, he said there are written policies in place that dictate how the Chromebooks should be used.

Superintendent Dr. Kimberly Shaver-Hood said providing students with a Chromebook is the result of a years-long plan to expand access to technology in the classroom.

For the past three years, she said Chromebooks were available to some students. It was a district goal to provide them to all students, which she said was glad to see come to fruition.

“We’re quite excited with some of the new pieces, the Chromebooks in particular which will make us a one-to-one district, that we’re bringing for this school year,” said Shaver-Hood. The one-to-one initiative means all students in those grades receive a laptop for use in home and at school.

Alongside the expanding technology, Palladino said the school’s academic offerings are growing as well.

The school opened a new culinary classroom this year, complete with industrial kitchen, to meet student interest in the field.

“The culinary elective was our most popular elective of the past two years,” said Palladino. “We have a wonderful teacher in the program.”

There will be four periods of culinary instruction added to the schedule this year, up from two the previous year, he said.

Wareham Middle School

Technology has been at the forefront of educators' minds for the past few years, and rightfully so, but Wareham Middle School Principal Peter Steedman said there’s room for the humanities, too.

New at the middle school this year, administrators have added a humanities academy for students who are not in the school’s STEAM Academy (science, technology and engineering, arts and humanities and mathematics).

In the STEAM Academy, students are taken out of their typical classroom situations and put into a program where teachers take a wide-ranging topic and teach about it from each of the science, technology and engineering, arts and humanities, and mathematics perspectives.

Steedman said the new humanities academy will be available for grade seven students.

“This will allow students to tackle read world problems by framing the issue using a humanities focus,” he said. “We want students to take an inter-disciplinary approach to problem solving and be able to blur the lines between art, English, history and social studies.”

The humanities academy will be staffed with teachers who are not already participating in the school’s STEAM Academy, he explained, which means every middle school educator will be involved in one academy or the other.

“This is a real opportunity to bring the students together,” said Steedman.

Steedman himself is a new addition to the school. Hired last year, he started as principal this summer after a stints at private schools across the world.

Regarding extra-curricular activities, Steedman said students and parents are looking forward to a newly revamped Drama Club. Last year, the long-defunct club was revived and students put on a performance of “Annie” that was well-received. Steedman that excitement has carried over to this academic year.

“A lot of students want to be involved in the Drama Club,” he said. “We’ve had a huge response and a lot of folks have been planning for the club over the summer.”

John W. Decas Elementary

Construction to replace the 46-year old roof and 45-year old boilers at John W. Decas Elementary School is set to start soon.

The replacement project was approved by Town Meeting in April with estimates of the project costing up to $2.4 million for the the Massachusetts State Building Authority Accelerated Repair Project at the aging school.

Under the state program, the town will be reimbursed up to 70 percent of the total project cost, after it fronts the repair funds.

Last week, the town received bids from three construction companies, all of which were significantly under budget. School officials will make a decision soon, after which construction will begin.

Academically, the teachers and staff at Decas have been preparing to integrate the "Focus K2" program in the school. Introduced back in March, teachers wasted no time adopting the program.

In Focus K2, stations are set up in the classrooms, each for a different purpose and each equipped with literature for further reading on specific themes. There are seven centers including a reading and writing center, a block area, a science center, an art center.

Though children are able to move more freely, they are still given instruction and assignments at each center. As a result, the program gives children more control over their education.

It strives to teach children creativity, critical thinking, and problem solving through collaboration and communication with a hands-on approach.

The program began with kindergarteners and will move up through the grades eventually.

Minot Forest

The greatest change this year for Minot Forest Elementary School, according to Principal Joan Seamans, is the reorganization of classrooms.

"We wanted to try a different model of teaching," she said.

Classrooms have been grouped according to "teacher team" groups: most of the groups have three teachers per grade. For example, Grade Four will have two teams with three teachers each on it.

Students will be switching classes between the teachers within a team while teachers focus on certain subjects.

Additionally, portable classrooms behind the building were torn down over the summer with the help of Municipal Maintenance.

"That's a big project we're happy was taken care of," said Seamans.

In September, Seamans will travel to China with teacher Robin Murphy as part of a continuation of a global education partnership. Last year, the school had students and teachers visit from China. Next month, Seamans and Murphy will visit the schools in China.

Lastly, funds raised by the Parent Teacher Association will be used to purchase pieces of playground equipment as well as recess bags for the students.

The most important part, Seaman said, was that the school is "excited to have the students back."