Daily struggles

Being a mom is one of the most fulfilling roles I've ever had.  I am amazed at how much patience I have now.  I used to get to mad so quickly, but when it comes to disciplining and teaching my child, I swear I have the patience of a saint.  In my line of work, I sometimes deal with people that require me to also show them the same amount of patience.  Since have a child, when a crisis occurs, I automatically shut down, focus on what is in front of me, fully assess the situation, and then take action.  I don't panic.  I immediately calm down and then do what needs to be done to get myself out of the crisis.  One example of this is just today I smelled smoke in the house and at first I thought it was the heating unit.  Sometimes it smells a little like something is burning if it hasn't run in a while.  I was in the bathroom getting ready and I smelled smoke which I thought was weird but I dismissed it.  I then went back into the bathroom and continued to get ready.  When I came back out, the smell was stronger and I knew something was wrong. I walked quickly into the kitchen and saw smoke everywhere.  Immediately I looked at the stove and oven.  They were both off.  I then shifted to the toaster oven and saw a little flame in the bottom.  This is the conversation that happened in my head:

Ok fire in the toaster oven
unplug it
open the door
oops that was dumb
hrmm..electrical fire
can't use water
fire extinguisher is too far away
salt....baking soda
BAKING SODA!
I grabbed it, threw it on the fire and everything is fine now.  I remained calm the entire time and only afterwards did my 5 year old walk in to ask me what smelled funny.
I just feel like if I panic, he will panic so I just shut down and solve.  I say all this to show that I can think and act quickly in order to save a life or a house.

However, I am struggling right now to find a way to get through to my child that learning can be fun.  He is a very loving kid.  The kind of kid that crawls into bed with me each morning and says "Good morning beautiful mommy."  The kid that hugs me and wants to hang out with me.  He wakes up on the weekends asking me what we're going to do today.  He is very well mannered and has finally broken out of his shyness.  BUT we are struggling with school.  He is bored and spends a lot of his time daydreaming, talking out of turn, and not doing his work.  Just this week he was sent to sit with the assistant principal because he threw a rock and hit another student in the head.  The assistant principal failed to mention to me that the much larger child had thrown grass at my child and he threw the rock in retaliation.  Now, I'm not saying that he was right in doing what he did.  I've told him that he is not right.  I've tried to show him how the other child felt when he hit them.  I'm doing everything I can to make him empathetic to the situation but I am at a loss.  How do I show him that learning is fun?  How do I make him enjoy school?
He loves his teaching assistant but he does not like his teacher.  I also can understand that.  She is one of those teachers that is very strict and by the book.  If she were a nun, I can totally see her popping students' hands with a ruler.  I've talked to another mom with a child in the class and she is going through exactly the same thing that I am.  I swear he doesn't act this way at home.  How do I help him learn to love learning?
I have a meeting with her next week and I'm hoping that this will help me.  This is definitely one of those times when I would be open and vulnerable, gratefully willing to the help offered.