I can see how this would be very upsetting for you - I hate the thought of this happening to my kids.
I think you are well within your rights to approach the teacher and ask for clarification of what happened, and of what their policy is for dealing with it. I don't think it's necessarily for a 5 year old to have to go home and tell their mother about an incident - I would have thought a quiet word from the teacher when you picked him up would have been reasonable.
But - kids that age are still working out how to play together and learning how to respond to conflict and where the boundaries are. If this was a first incident from the child and the situation was well understood by the teacher, then being reprimanded and name put on the board could be a good lesson. If the child has a habit of beating up on other kids or bullying then the teacher would need to take further action.
I too would check what happened with the teacher. If it was a blatant punch to the stomach than no, I don't think it was dealt with appropriately (especially if it wasn't a first 'offence'). However, as a teacher I've found there are often times that physical violence was actually an accident (eg, playing some weird superman game and running around with their arms out, not looking where they were going and hand hit the stomach of another child). IF it was an accident then maybe the name on the board was more of a warning to try to play safer? That being said, I still think you should have been informed that your child was punched (whether on purpose or accidentally).
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