Hi Beverly - My son also used to struggle with making his voice heard in class. He's a happy, chatty guy at home but his K and 1 teachers both talked about how quiet he was in class. I think it's a matter of working with the teacher to help your son feel more comfortable. My son's teacher started really working with him by saying things like "I love hearing your beautiful voice in class" and "It always makes our lesson better when we hear from you". She'd send a little note home each day to tell us whether or not he'd participated and on days that he did a great job we'd put a sticker on a chart for him.

I think lots of positive reinforcement is the way to go here. Make sure your son knows how much it helps the whole class when he shares his questions, answers, and ideas.

Hopefully with a little support from you and his teachers your son will follow most kids' path of outgrowing this version of shyness.

Good luck!

Kat

In my grade 1 / 2 class, I find that some children develop their confidence to speak, if the class discusses a topic or controversial question the children are interested in and know a lot about. In that case, the children realise that their ideas are important to the group and therefore overcome their fear. Sometimes it also helps if I ask a child to inform the others about what is happening next (e.g. transition to circle time).

The most important thing is that your son is put in situations where speaking is of intrinsic value to him.

Some children also just require time and will overcome their fear when they are ready for it. Encouragement is good but pressure can be counterproductive.

I hope this helps. And I hope that your son will thoroughly enjoy his first year of elementary school.