Gmail in my classroom

I use gmail in my classroom in lots of ways.  My favorite is to email students url links for websites I would like them to explore.  It takes them forever to type in all those dashes and they always seem to leave a letter or character out when they try typing it on their own!!  This is a quick way for them to access many different websites from one resource.  I also email them a morning message daily that talks about our day and what will be going on.  They are then required to email me back and let me know how they are feeling and what they are looking forward to!