Gmail

Gmail is a free, cloud-based email program that comes with your Google account. If you have a G Suite education account, you'll have a Gmail that is specific to that domain.

Which email?

Because many teachers have both a G Suite and a personal email, sometimes being logged into both can cause confusion. Whichever account you've signed into first becomes the dominant account. Therefore, if you open your school account and try to click on a Classroom notification, but you signed in first to your personal account, then you'll get a "Classroom not Found" message. I recommend that if you anticipate having to click on a lot of links for your G Suite services, open your Google/Gmail school account first.

Organize your Emails

To create folders, click on the bottom of the left-side menu on More. Add a label - which works as a folder. I also came across a wonderful video by Jen Lehner, an expert on using Virtual Assistants, on how to set up emails for better management and classification. Take a look at https://youtu.be/J4oMD5GUfO4 (or I've linked below). Note that if you like having different folders for Social, Updates, and Forums, don't use the option to display various categorized tasks at the side. For more information on organizing your emails: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/9259770?hl=en

Create a Communication Schedule

It might be good to schedule emails to go out to students and/or parents on a consistent schedule. To do this, compose your email, then instead of clicking on Send at the bottom, you can pick a date and time to schedule your email. You'll see a tab on your Gmail categories for Scheduled. (Tip from Richard Byrne of Practical Ed Tech/Free Technology for Teachers).

Add Email Notes

Jen Lehrer suggests a simple Chrome extension, available in the Chrome Store, that allows you to write notes at the top of emails. These will also show up in your Inbox listing. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/simple-gmail-notes/jfjkcbkgjohminidbpendlodpfacgmlm?hl=en