Class clown behavior

My son just turned 8, he is in second grade. His teacher says he is very bright academically, no problem at all on that side, but his behavior - quote - "tends to be somewhat of a class clown", and she goes on explaining how he shows a bit of that "look at me" or "everyone notice me". He wants to be funny and often his behavior is distracting the rest of the class and it almost seems as occasionally he is in competition with the teacher for the class attention. And there are times when it's hard for him to stop, and he needs repeated reminders. In our school there are many transition times when they go from class to class, at those times he sometimes has trouble keeping his hands to himself as they walk from room to room.
He is fine at home. We have a very stable family life, both my husband and I are very involved in our kids life.  My son has a couple of good friends at school he is very close to, but he generally gets along well with everybody. We have play dates with those two friends, unfortunately not often because of logistical difficulties (our school is a bit far from our home). He is a bit shy though, he tend to avoid eye contact and a direct approach with adults but has no problem to say hi and hug when reminded. He is very sensitive and still cry easily when his feelings are hurt or when he gets frustrated about something. He is not interested in team sports, but he is quite athletic and does well in tennis, skating, swimming and snow sports. My guess is that he is socially immature, and this clowning around is his way to interact with others right now in the school setting. Maybe he is more shy than we thought, perhaps he thinks the best way to obtain his friends attention is to make them laugh? Maybe I should help him to expand his social life? Will he outgrow this class clown thing or will this label stick with him for ever?
I am not sure how to address this issue, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

If his experience is that his classmates respond favorably to his antics it will reinforce the behavior. And it may well be that the behavior, like with many children who are labeled class clowns, is a bid for attention. I hope the school adopts a more strict limit setting/discipline approach. If they do he will likely stop the behavior pretty quickly. How long the behavior persists is more a function of how it is handled by the adults than anything else.