Maybe fifth grade is too young to test out non-alcoholic beer, even if it is for a history lesson.

MLive reported that a fifth grade teacher at Hyatt Elementary School in Linden, Michigan, caused a bit of an uproar when she allowed her fifth-grade students to drink non-alcoholic beer as part of a history lesson last week.

Superintendent Ed Koledo said the teacher allowed students to sample O'Doul's non-alcoholic beer that had been brought to school by a student March 6. The experiment was aimed to represent ale common in the 1700s. The lesson stated that many people drank ale during that time because clean water was sometimes dirty or unhealthy.

According to the Anheuser-Busch website, O'Doul's is advertised as non-alcoholic beer and has less than 0.5 percent of alcohol. The teacher explained to administrators how it all came about, stating:

"Students were assigned a project on colonial times that fit the era between 1630 - 1770. Students were asked to research their idea and present it to the class. One of the things that we talk about in our discussions is that beer was common for drinking because of the bad water found in colonial times. Even children drank beer for safety reasons. One of the students asked if they could bring in a non-alcoholic beer. I said they could as long as there was no alcohol involved. The project was authentic to the time period and very controlled in the classroom, so the students had a small taste of the O'Doul's beverage. Students did not have to drink it if they chose not to."

Hyatt Principal Vicki Malkaravage sent a letter home explaining to parents what happened during the class period.  The letter stated that the teacher believed that O'Doul's would be okay to serve because the label said it was a non-alcoholic beverage. Parents reportedly became concerned when their kids came home with some bottles of O'Doul's.

"We talked to the teacher and said this was an inappropriate choice," Koledo said. "There were a lot better choices to represent a colonial-era drink than what was chosen here."

Liquor Control Commission spokeswoman Andrea Miller said giving O'Doul's or similar drinks to minors could be prosecuted as a misdemeanor in the state, but no one has been charged. School officials have not reported how many students sampled the drink, but did state that the students were not forced to drink any of the beverages.

"Nobody complained to the teacher, principal or me," Koledo said. "We monitored the situation the next day. It was a dead topic so we just left it at that."