My 8yr old son doesn't focus in school

[Mari83]

My 2nd grade son's teacher has concerns about his happiness and attention span at school. She claims that he seems very sad and distracted. She said he hardly ever finishes work on time and she worries he will fall behind. His reading and writing is a little below average but he has made great growth in the last few months. When he comes home he is very happy and tells me he has a great time at school. My child has always been very quiet and serious but never withdrawn and he just likes to play by himself sometimes. He claims he likes to read and write but feels rushed at school and doesn't like the attention. How can I help him to improve his school work and what do you think could be causing these problems that seem to only occur at school?

[Sandman2]

Do let her know how he works at home.
Ask her if there is anybody or thing that might be distracting him.
Try to find out what area of work is it that he does not finish on time.  It may be a particular subject that he has trouble dealing with compared to other subjects.
Does he show any signs of wanting to be perfect in things he does? - that will really slow down kids.
  It may well be that since he is pulled out of class for reading help, that just gets him further behind and he then gets frustrated trying to catch up.
Do talk to the teacher that gives him extra help in reading.  She may have some good ideas of his attention span since she is probably working with a  smaller group of kids.
  Its good that you and the teachers are communicating!

[Mari83]

Thanks it does help. He does his homework with no problems at home. He reads and writes in his journal which is extra work we give him to improve his skills. He doesn't take long to finish at all. He obviously would rather be drawing or building something but he never gives me a hard time. I just can't imagine him being that much different at school. He doesn't always finish his classwork on time but he is pulled out of class for extra help in reading so he doesn't have the same amount of time in class as the other students.I have a meeting with his teachers tomorrow any ideas on what I should ask?

[Sandman2]

It may well be that your son likes his space, his quietness, his thinking time.  If that is so, as he matures, he will learn to speed things up a bit.  Probably the question is - how does he do at home during homework?  Does he take a lot of time to finish?  Is he easily distracted?  If not.  then he is just doing his thing.  
  thank his teacher for her concern.  Make sure she lets you know if he falls behind so you can help him at home.  Perhaps ask her for more specific examples of what he is doing.  For example on tests, does he finish on time or does he have this problem only during class work.  Also ask her if a seat change would help him.  Sometimes the people around you can be a huge distraction.  Hope this helps.