Apple watch using digital crown instead of swiping

I purchased an apple watch this past weekend. I am trying to learn all I can to make it work smoothly and meet my needs. One thing I discovered last night, after watching/listening to videos on the Apple site, is the digital crown actually turns. The digital crown is the round protruding button on the top right side of the watch. It is used for multiple reasons, but I was excited to find that you can move around the watch simply by turning the digital crown in either direction.
For example, I just received a message on my watch. I pushed the digital crown to go to my home screen. I have messages right next to clock, which is where you typically land when going to the home screen. I did a double tap on the watch and then used the digital crown to move up and down between my messages. Once I found the message I wanted to respond to I double tapped the watch face and again used the digital crown to move up and down through my options. I really like using the digital crown because, as a teacher, I can be fairly inconspicuous by turning the digital crown as opposed to swiping the watch face. Perhaps I will do a brief podcast about this.