Washington Post Receives 'Adorable' Letter From Fifth Graders Correcting Mistake In Titanic Story (PHOTO)

After publishing an April roundup post of Titanic books, Washington Post contributing editor Dennis Drabelle received the most adorable correction ever from an unlikely source -- a fifth grade class from Burning Tree Elementary School in Bethesda, Md., Poynter reports.

Drabelle had initially written that Titanic collided with the iceberg on April 15 -- something the youngsters refuted with an adorable correction written on a large letter.

“Based on our research,” wrote Mrs. Reed’s fifth-grade class, “the Titanic hit the iceberg shortly before midnight on April 14, 1912.” Whoops!

Washington Post Fiction Editor Ron Charles tweeted a photo of the oversized correction.

Our favorite correction letter ever, from 5th graders @ Burning Tree E.S. in Bethesda MD. yfrog.com/mm7rhidj

— Ron Charles (@RonCharles) July 11, 2012

For those who can't read the letter, Poynter supplied the full text:

April 16, 2012

Dear Mr. Drabelle,
We are fifth grade students at Burning Tree ES in Besthesda, Maryland and we have been studying the Titanic’s tragic sinking and the lives of some of the survivors. In your April 15, 2012 edition of The Washington Post, you stated that the Titanic hit the iceberg on April 15, 1912. Based on our research, the Titanic hit the iceberg shortly before midnight on April 14, 1912.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Reed’s fifth grade class

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[Tuvuu]

11:51 AM on 07/14/2012

I'm all for more letters to the editor being sent on large sheets of butcher paper (written collaboratively by an entire class). I'm all in on this.

[foresure]

01:36 AM on 07/15/2012

Tuvuu:

Your first fan.

Reason: Your post gave me a smile.

Thank you.

[Pam512]

08:26 PM on 07/12/2012

I was just criticizing an article on the "Patch" web site and the editor couldn't understand what mistake she had made (until I pointed it out). I don't criticize people's spelling or grammar on these comment boards, but if you are getting PAID to write that article, it should be correct. Kudos to these kids (although they can't spell Bethesda!). I guess all of our youth are not hopeless.

[ydjesserca]

08:39 PM on 07/12/2012

They spelled Bethesda right if you look at the photo, whoever wrote the article did not while quoting it.

[krvball24]

08:40 PM on 07/12/2012

They spelled 'Bethesda' correctly. Are you seeing something on their giant letter that I'm not?

[mlaiuppa]

01:49 PM on 07/12/2012

Is this now typical of the research our so called news media is doing on articles? Apparently not smarter than a fifth grader.

[Ricardo Martin]

06:34 PM on 07/12/2012

Considering the abundance of misspellings I've seen in the articles I have read since HuffPost started (possibly due to the absence of a supervising editor), this is not a surprise.

[jokerdanny]

11:20 AM on 07/12/2012

kind of like mccain picking palin in august and sinking in november...and jack still won't let go ;-)...yes i know there was no jack, it's a joke!

[Jerry Barthel]

05:43 PM on 07/12/2012

STOP, STOP, STOP....PLEASE...WITH THE POLITICAL JOKES THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE STORY AT HARD. FOR CHRISTS SAKE! thanks. lol

[kinderprintables]

06:34 PM on 07/12/2012

I think someone needs to go back to grammar school. It would have been funny, if you had at least TRIED to spell, capitalize, and punctuate properly! Your message is a classic example of the dumbing down of the American education.

[idontcare761]

07:31 PM on 07/12/2012

I agree that he didn't necessarily need to use all Caps , but, the one word he misspelled was most likely a typo.

[jokerdanny]

11:20 AM on 07/12/2012

they need to send another letter to James Cameron and tell him there was no rose, jack, or diamond

[Ricardo Martin]

06:36 PM on 07/12/2012

You should have read the article about the Titanic grave sites in Nova Scotia, Canada.

[idontcare761]

07:32 PM on 07/12/2012

I imagine they studied a different version , no movies or cliff notes in 5th grade..yet. :)

(Yes I am aware you were joking ;) )

[SharkD]

11:17 AM on 07/12/2012

The dates of the iceberg collision and the sinking depends on which time reference you use.

In 1912, ships at sea did not use time zones -- the shipping companies set policies by which the shipboard clocks were set. White Star liners adjusted their clocks each night, at midnight, so that when the clock struck noon on the following day, the sun would be directly overhead, in a practice known as 'apparent local noon.' It was inexact and prone to error. And, it meant that ships in relative proximity to each other would have clocks set to widely varying times (depending on the accuracy of their navigation and which direction they were traveling).

The survivors and officers from Titanic gave conflicting reports as to whether or not the clocks were set back in the moments surrounding the collision. Going by the clocks aboard the SS Californian, the collision and sinking occurred on the 15th. Going by the clocks on the RMS Carpathia, the collision and sinking occurred on the 14th.

Back then, different shipping companies even kept different times for New York, Washington and Miami.

Does it really matter?

[kinderprintables]

06:35 PM on 07/12/2012

To those 5th grade students, yes it did matter.

[krvball24]

08:45 PM on 07/12/2012

Interesting info...I had no idea that time was so subjective so recently in history. Cool facts. I always wondered why there were clocks for different locations but the minutes didn't match up. It totally makes sense now.

[forreform]

09:56 AM on 07/12/2012

So glad Huffington Post is wasting its ink/(or control-V from other news sources) reporting on "cute" stories like this from schools in DC's rich, neighboring suburb.

If they turned their attention to schools in the low-income communities surrounding it, they'd see an education system in crisis, that is sinking far faster than any ship.

[rbking]

10:26 AM on 07/12/2012

Yeah, so never do a feel good story again. It is so much better to wallow in despair.

[Klytemnestra]

11:30 AM on 07/12/2012

You mad, bro?

[acewarlock]

11:32 PM on 07/12/2012

Klytemnestra: who was your post directed at????????

[funkydoowopper]

09:41 AM on 07/12/2012

Somebody put a stop to this. 5th graders being indoctrinated with facts. The next thing we know they'll be registering so they can vote democrat.

[pbr56]

09:44 AM on 07/12/2012

I doubt they were from Texas. That kind of thing is frowned upon.

[Jamie Kowalski]

09:51 AM on 07/12/2012

Soon that will be "pepper-sprayed upon."

[Aroddo]

09:29 AM on 07/12/2012

July 12, 2012

Dear Huffington Post,
based on my research, "Besthesda" is actually spelled "Bethesda".
Even 5th graders get it right. Why not you?

Sincerely,
Aroddo.

[Sean Whelan]

10:10 AM on 07/12/2012

LOL! f&f!

[idontcare761]

07:36 PM on 07/12/2012

That's hilarious , I totally missed that! lol..f&f as well :)

[ProfessorBIGWUN]

08:55 AM on 07/12/2012

It collided with the iceberg on the 14th, but sank on the 15th.

[Sean Whelan]

10:17 AM on 07/12/2012

Be that as it may, the issue is the collision itself.

[Outlier]

08:32 AM on 07/12/2012

What's so "adorable" about a straightforward letter to a newspaper regarding an article?

[Fentwin]

09:20 AM on 07/12/2012

Compared to what I've seen from my college students, the handwriting was legible, the words spelled correctly and proper grammar was used.

I guess thats now considered "adorable".

:P

[LeftRight]

08:15 AM on 07/12/2012

Speaking as a person born one day before the worst day in history, these kids are completely correct!

What's the worst day in history? April 15. Lincoln died, Titanic sank, and it's tax day.

Of course, my birthday isn't much better, because Lincoln was shot, Titanic hit the berg, and my mother's an accountant....

[cdianek]

10:22 AM on 07/12/2012

My son's initial due date was April 15th. While today, over 23 years later, I'm mostly over his 10 day tardiness, after reading your post, I'm kind of glad he wasn't born that day, even though I'm not an accountant!

[LeftRight]

09:02 PM on 07/12/2012

Yeah, I saw my mother on my birthday the day I was born, and 19 years later....

[LeftRight]

09:58 PM on 07/12/2012

And re-reading your post reminds me, I was actually two weeks late. My due date was on April 1, and I wasn't born until the 14th...

Then, to make matters worse, my mother told me the circumstances of my own conception when I was about 20 or so..... STILL have nightmares!!

[Cipra]

11:34 AM on 07/12/2012

Poor you! My sister was born 4/15, and is married to an accountant!

[J Rupel]

04:40 AM on 07/12/2012

The Post's fact-checker should have caught this, but he was too busy picking splinters from Pinocchio's nose out of his anus.

[Bienville]

07:26 AM on 07/12/2012

um, thanks for the visual. i think

[lalose]

07:56 AM on 07/12/2012

pure poetry.

[wutzhappn]

04:14 AM on 07/12/2012

I say hire the fifth graders to edit the Huffington Post.

[flygirl2]

08:35 AM on 07/12/2012

I'm with you!

[wutzhappn]

04:13 AM on 07/12/2012

The teacher wrote the "adorable" letter.

[Outlier]

08:34 AM on 07/12/2012

That must make the teacher "adorable".

[Fentwin]

09:22 AM on 07/12/2012

I bet you were the kid at halloween parties that always said "Those aren't witch's eyes, those are grapes!". :P