Stereoisomers of metaldehyde and paraldehyde (1) In case of paraldehyde I see 3 similar chiral carbons. So I divided it into 2 subcases
-two methyls above the plane and one below the plane
-all three above the plane
so, that makes it 2. When I looked this up on Wikipedia I found this,

can,(1) and (4) not be obtained by simply ring flipping, doesn't that make them conformers? Do I need to count them separately in my count of stereoisomers?

this according to me should have 4 stereosiomer(not including conformers) can someone confirm this answer? Are there any more im missing out?
Your analysis for metaldehyde is correct. There are four achiral stereoisomers. The example cited here is a bit different. To understand the use of R, S, r and s, see this discussion on the inositols.