An excited crowd of second-grade students gathered in the atrium at Carrollton Elementary School on Friday to cut the ribbon on a “little” project that was a big deal for the students.

The entire grade worked on a project to build a Little Free Library that will be installed at Jones Creek Landing Mobile Home Park, which is located about four miles from the school.

Second-grade teacher Carrie DeLong said the project was the perfect combination of two focuses for Carrollton students — becoming good readers and having empathy for others.

“This project fit both of those perfectly,” she said.

Every student in the grade had a role in the project. Some painted the library itself. Some designed fliers and posters to encourage book donations. Some designed invitations to Friday’s ribbon-cutting and the upcoming expo this Wednesday. Some took photos and produced a video about the project.

“My favorite part was painting with some of my friends,” said Lillian Nuttall, whose group painted one side of the Little Free Library. “I like sharing empathy, and I like being with my friends, and I like painting.”

The students said they initially did drawings of what they wanted to paint on the library, passed them around the entire grade for input and then incorporated the input into better drawings. They then painted the library, depicting items like a rainbow and book characters — Harry Potter and Charlotte from “Charlotte’s Web” among them.

“We loved each other’s ideas,” said Ainsley Lowe, who was also involved in painting the Little Free Library.

McKinley Distefano and Seniah Cypress said they enjoyed taking pictures of the project.

Maelan Parkinson said she said the project was a good thing to do for the Jones Creek residents “so they can learn about books.”

The expo this Wednesday at 6 p.m. will display the video the students created and give other information about the project.

Seniah encouraged everybody to come to the event.

“I want everybody to come to our expo,” she said.

The students are also grateful to the sponsors of the project — the Carrollton branch of the Blackwater Regional Library, Mr. and Mrs. E.R. Lenz, Mrs. Natalie Street, Mr. Brennan, Mrs. Buggs and all of the students and others who have donated books to stock the library.