Static front page: Add Most Popular Articles to main content?

Hey,

I think I am looking for something tag-related or dynamic.

A client has inquired about a template – but part of it I have never tried before.

The front page would be static.

But it would contain two sections:

Latest News and Most Popular Articles

These would both bring up the first sentence or two of each type, along with a photo and a “read more” link.

These also WOULD NOT be in the widget area but in the main section.

Can anyone pint me in a direction to get me started? I don;t mess with template code a lot – but also am not afraid too.

I’m working with a child theme of WP-Bootstrap. But I don;t think that really has any bearing on the logic.