back-to-front or front-to-back?

For a course I'm taking next semester I will be building a web app. It's nothing very complex - different types of users can view and create/update different types of stored information. The point of this course is more the opportunity to try out new technologies than to create a great product.

I intend to use Spring (or Spring Boot? I haven't yet figured out the difference) for the backend and probably Angular for the frontend. I have never used either of these frameworks before, nor do I have any idea how they work.

Which side should I start working from? I'd at least like to be able to make a start on figuring out one end before I start to confuse myself by mixing the two.

I've tentatively selected Angular over React or Vue for the frontend because I've heard it's popular / in demand here in New Zealand, but is there a solid reason I should consider using something else?

Do you know of any extremely beginner-friendly resources I should look at for any of these frameworks? I'm hoping to spend the next couple of weeks starting to get familiar with them before the semester begins.