Hi @leticia_lopez1 ,
1. Typically, yes. If your students were given typical student permissions when added to Canvas, that would include a permission which allows them to message others in the course (as long as they and the other student have active enrollments). To verify this for your students, I'd recommend reaching out to your institution's Canvas admin.
2. I was curious about this, so I took a peek at your course and it appears that you or perhaps an admin at your institution has renamed the Grades link in Course Navigation to Course Progress. So you click on that link to access the gradebook.
Naomi
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