my kindergardener

My son is almost six and is in kindergarden this year. Within the first week of school he had been to the principal's office twice. He did settle in and things seemed to get better but now after Christmas break he has again been to the principal's office. Essentially he talks/doesn't follow instructions and ignores the warnings the teacher gives, is given an in class time out and is so disruptive he is sometimes sent out of the room for a partner time out with the aid or to the principal's office. We do still have tantrums at home, although I don't have to resort to time out or punishment as much as when he was younger. I have noticed though that when he is angry at being punished or corrected he sometimes shakes with anger and a few times has been doing a lot of yelling (I hate you, etc). I know this is within normal and I don't think it has gotten that bad at school (shouting like that at the teacher). I am meeting with the teacher and principal on Monday to come up with a plan. Here are some other factors
-he is a bright kid who has inherited his father's tendancy to have little patience/interest in participating in things he is not interested in (I know boredom factors into this, but he needs to learn to participate even if its something he isn't interested in)
-he likes going to see the principal (or so he says) because he gets to sit and talk to her about what is going on and his feelings
-he does speak with the school counselor once a week (they play legos and talk about feelings)
-he also sees a teacher once a week for one on one advanced time where they focus on projects he is interested in
-he is often quick to say after a minor infraction that now he won't be able to do X (when that is not the punishment we would impose). He is quick to say once he loses a privlidge that he will never earn it back so why try. That he is the worst kid ever. We never say this to him (or even that he is a bad kid). In fact we are always saying the opposite, he gets a fair amount of praise when he does well and we often talk after misbehaviour about what he could do differently and that we know he can listen/control himself but they are skills that must be practiced to improve them.

So, I'm looking for ideas on a plan, I think we need a reward system but the teacher is also looking for ideas on not letting a small thing in the morning spiral out of control into multiple trips to the principals office. Stuff we would do at home (sending him to his room, letting him lay down, letting him have a fit in his room during time out) are not really great options at school. Especially if they allow him to not participate in whatever he was trying to get out of in the first place.

Ideas? Comisseration? >